De Minaur edges Shapovalov to clinch Australia’s win over Canada

Their home crowd cheering them on at Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, Alex de Minaur and John Millman both came from behind to beat Canada’s top two players, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime, giving Team Australia a 2-0 record in their round-robin group at the ATP Cup.

With Germany beating Greece in the other Group F tie of the day on Sunday night, Australia is guaranteed to finish first in Group F and have thus qualified for the quarterfinals.

The day began with a late change-up to Australia’s line-up, with Nick Kyrgios having to sit out due to a back issue. Millman stepped in and took full advantage of the opportunity, falling behind 3-1 early on but then winning 11 of the next 14 games to beat Canadian No. 2 Auger-Aliassime, 6-4, 6-2.

“It’s never easy when you’re not expecting to play, but any opportunity to play here and play in front of the home crowd is just incredible,” said Millman, a Brisbane native. “I’ve been lucky to play in a lot of courts all around the world and there’s just no place like home. It’s the people here who make this place so special. Year in, year out, the Queensland crowds come out in droves and lift us up.”

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Millman also gave a shout-out to the three other singles players he shared the court with Sunday.

“How lucky are we to have Felix, Denis and Alex come here and grace this court,” he told the crowd. “Three of the brightest prospects in tennis right now, and we get to have them in our backyard.”

Next up was a marathon between De Minaur and Shapovalov, with Shapovalov seemingly on the verge of victory up a set and 4-2. But de Minaur roared back with six games in a row from there—and won 10 of the last 12 games of the match—to prevail after exactly three hours on court, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2.

Shapovalov hit 13 more winners in the match, 44 to 31, but he also had 30 more unforced errors, 53 to 23. De Minaur was also rock solid under pressure—he saved 14 of the 16 break points he faced.

The Australian No. 1 was asked in his on-court interview how he managed to dig out the win.

“I’m not too sure, really,” he replied. “I mean, yet again, it’s been an amazing team effort today. Johnny came out here and played unbelievably earlier today, and I had the whole team behind me, even when things weren’t going my way. It just goes to show you that it’s not over until it’s really over.

The Australians made it a clean sweep in the doubles, as Chris Guccione and John Peers rallied from a set down to beat Auger-Aliassime and Adil Shamasdin in a match tie-break, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 10-8.

Team Australia hasn’t just gone undefeated in ties in Group F, 2-0, they’ve also gone undefeated in overall matches, 6-0—they beat Germany in their first tie, 3-0, and now Canada in their second, 3-0.

It’s not over for Canada yet, though—the teams that finish first in their round-robin groups qualify for the quarterfinals, but there are also two spots in the quarterfinals for the next-best finishing teams. Canada will play Germany on Tuesday, while Australia will try to stay perfect as they take on Greece.