‘Ottawa’ Canada Ties Things up Against Great Britain in Davis Cup
It wasn’t as if Denis Shapovalov didn’t belong on the tennis court with Dan Evans, but rather that Shapovalov needed his A game to beat Evans on Friday and didn’t have it.
Shapovalov, a 17-year-old left-hander from Richmond Hill, Ont., was broken on serve in the very first game and never back on even terms as he lost 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to Evans in the first match of the Davis Cup World Group first-round tie between Canada and Great Britain at TD Place arena on Friday.
Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil was to face Britain’s Kyle Edmund in the second singles rubber on Friday. Saturday is reserved for doubles, with Pospisil and Toronto’s Daniel Nestor scheduled to face Britain’s Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot, with the reverse singles on the agenda for Sunday.
Shapovalov served hard and swung big on ground strokes, but his risk-or-reward style also led to twice as many errors, both forced and unforced, than those committed by Evans.
