Canada and Russia reach semifinals of 2022 ATP Cup

Felix Auger-Aliassime (Twitter)

We now know the four teams left in the ATP Cup in Sydney. Joining Poland and Spain which qualified on Wednesday, are Canada and Russia, which qualified on Thursday.

Team Canada won Group C by beating Germany two matches to none. After opening the tournament with a loss to the United States, the Canadian squad bounced back with wins over Great Britain and Germany, to win the group with a record of two wins and one loss. Along the way, they received some help from Great Britain. On Thursday, Great Britain beat the United States. If they would have lost to the Americans, the Canadians would have been eliminated.

The best player on Team Canada this week was 2021 United States Open semifinalist Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec. Auger-Aliassime came away with an impressive 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over world number three Alexander Zverev of Germany, and also beat Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, 7-6, 6-3 on Tuesday. Auger-Aliassime also teamed up with Denis Shapovalov of Toronto to win a key doubles match over Great Britain’s Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury, 6-4, 6-1.

Russia meanwhile was led by the doubles team of Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin, who had a perfect record of three wins and zero losses. On Sunday, Medvedev and Safiullin defeated Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, 6-4, 6-4 to break a 1-1 deadlock in singles play, while on Thursday, Medvedev and Safiullin defeated the Italian duo of Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner, 5-7, 6-4, [10-5].

It has been a breakout ATP Cup for Safiullin, the 167th ranked player in the world. He has come away with two singles upset wins. The first was over Arthur Ridnerknech of France, the 58th ranked player in the world, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. The second was over Australia’s James Duckworth, 7-6, 6-4.

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