MADRID: Whatever the pros and cons of the new-fangled Davis Cup Finals, the old competition’s knack of inspiring players to upset the form book endures, as Vasek Pospisil showed on Thursday to fire Canada past Australia into the semi-finals.

The 29-year-old is languishing at 150 in the world after back surgery to fix a herniated disc sidelined him for six months this year, but he has lit up La Caja Magica this week with a series of stunning displays.

He was the difference again on Thursday, beating 48th-ranked John Millman 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 in the opening singles, before teaming up with Denis Shapovalov later to win the deciding doubles rubber against Jordan Thompson and John Peers 6-4, 6-4.

Australian hopes were not helped when Nick Kyrgios, impressive in their group wins over Colombia and Belgium, was surprisingly not named to play against the Canadians.

Team captain Lleyton Hewitt later clarified Kyrgios was forced out by a collarbone injury.

“We didn’t really have a choice,” Hewitt said. “He couldn’t play. That’s just the way the cards fell.”

Pospisil has won all three of his singles matches without dropping a set. He beat 12-ranked Italian Fabio Fognini in Canada’s opening group match and then took down 22-year-old American giant Reilly Opelka, ranked 36, on Tuesday.

Thankfully there were a few hundred Canadian fans inside the sparsely populated 12,500-seat centre court at the Madrid venue that is hosting the first edition of the revamped Davis Cup.

Canada will face Serbia or Russia on Saturday in what will be only their third semi-final in the competition.

“The sky’s the limit. We don’t know, with a little luck on our side, anything can happen going into Saturday into the semis,” Canada captain Frank Dancevic told reporters. “It’s been a great run so far.”

A rather chaotic first edition of the new Davis Cup Finals has been blighted by late finishes with Italy and the U.S. finishing at 4 a.m. the previous night.

Pospisil struck the winning volley after midnight on Thursday to end a day that also finished the remaining group matches to complete the last-eight lineup.

Serbia sealed their place in the quarter-finals in straightforward fashion with singles wins for Filip Krajinovic and Novak Djokovic over France, sealing top spot in Group ‘A’.

Djokovic defeated Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-3 to seal Serbia’s victory after Krajinovic had beaten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) in the first singles. France picked up their lone point with duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeating Viktor Troicki and the retiring Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4.

Defeat meant last year’s runners-up France joined 2018 winners Croatia as early departures.

Britain’s Group ‘E’ decider against Kazakhstan went to the wire with doubles duo Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski edging Leon Smith’s side home for the second day running.

Former world number one Andy Murray was left out but his replacement Kyle Edmund beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3.

Alexander Bublik beat Dan Evans 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 to level the tie and raise hopes among the vociferous Kazakh fans, but Murray and Skupski easily beat Bublik and Kukushkin 6-1, 6-4 to clinch it.

In what is being nicknamed the World Cup of tennis, Britain will face old football rivals Germany on Saturday.

Germany won Group ‘C’ by defeating Chile 2-1 thanks to a doubles win by Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies over Marcelo Tomas Barrios and Alejandro Tabilo.

Phillip Kohlschreiber had given Germany the lead by defeating Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-3, but Cristian Garin evened the series with a 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (10-8) victory over Jan-Lennard Struff.

Argentina crept into the quarter-finals one of the two best runners-up and will take on Spain on Friday when the hosts will be without their number-two player Roberto Bautista Agut, whose father died on Thursday.

The International Tennis Federation voted to change the format in 2018 in partnership with Spanish investment company Kosmos who have pledged $3 billion over 25 years.

The World Group, which featured home-and-away ties across the year before a November final, has now been replaced by an 18-nation showpiece in one city.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2019