Day 8 at the ATP cup and the packed house at Ken Rosewall arena in Sydney would witness some outstanding matches. The 4 quarter-finalists were at battle for the place in the semi-finals. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic would both be scheduled to play thus giving the crown a return for their money. Let’s look back at the highlights of a extremely competitive tennis day.
Serbia Beat Canada 3-0
In the first contest Serbia and Canada would collide with NextGen stars Dusan Lajovic of Serbia and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada up against each other. It was the Serbian Lajovic who dominated the match from start to finish. He broke Aliassime in both the sets taking the match in an hour and a half and thus giving his side an early advantage.
In the next singles match it was Serbia’s best player Novak Djokovic up against Canada’s best player Denis Shapovalov. The Canadian took the 1st set thus raising up few eyebrows expecting an upset. Djokovic however would dominate the 2nd set and thus level the match.
In the drama filled 3rd set both players would play neck to neck until Djokovic breaking in the 9th game and serving for the set. Shapovalov would however break right back and the match would then head to a tie breaker. In the tie break contest Djokovic would dominate an thus taking the match guaranteeing his side a semi-final berth against Russia.
With the semis already booked the Serbian pair of Viktor Troicki and Peter Polansky beat the Canadians Nikola Cacic and Adil Shamasdin to make it a clean sweep.
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Spain Beat Belgium 2-1
In the night contest it was Spain and Belgium locking horns with Roberto Bautista Agut beating Kimmer Coppejans in straight sets. This would give the Spanish side an early advantage In the 2nd match however that advantage was quickly lost when David Goffin produced the match of his life to beat Rafael Nadal.
Goffin broke the World Number 1 in the mid of the 1st set and then took the set 6-4. In the 2nd set he again broke the Nadal serve but with the Spanish great getting the break back quickly the set would go to a tie breaker. Finally a tie break would decide the fate of the match. Goffin was again the better player in the deciding stages and would win the tie breaker thus putting Belgium against level terms.
With the singles match lost Nadal would wear the doubles had along Pablo Carrero Busta to take on Belgian pair of Sander Gille and Joran Viegen. The Belgian duo won the 1st set in a tie breaker. Having been pushed close to defeat the Spaniards would come back in the 2nd set by breaking in the closing stages and thus leveling the match. In a 3rd set which is decided by a tie breaker in doubles, the Spaniards appeared dominant closing it by 10 games to 7.
It is thus Serbia vs Russia and Spain vs Australia in the semis and the chance of a dream match between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic still stays alive.