Canada surprised many in the group stage of the Davis Cup and in the quarterfinals of the tennis tournament it will face a country that comes out of nowhere: Finland.
Thanks to Quebecers Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneau, the maple leaf kept Italy, Sweden and Chile out of the way in Bologna last week. He was able to continue his title defense without his great talents Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov.
• Also read: Félix Auger-Aliassime’s father comments on his son’s difficult season
• Also read: Tennis: She injures herself while showering and has to give up
• Also read: Davis Cup: Canada qualified
The Finns are making their first appearance in the final stages of the Davis Cup and are already being dubbed the competition’s “Cinderella team”. They finished second in Group D behind the Netherlands, but recorded important wins over the USA and Croatia.
Everyone was waiting for Emil Ruusuvuori, the 57th ranked player in the world, in September’s encounters, but it was the neglected Otto Virtanen who pulled some rabbits out of the hat. The WTA’s 126th racket, a young man of 22, beat Mackenzie McDonald (39th), Botic van de Zandschulp (68th) and Dino Prizmic (170th) in quick succession.
The victorious country of this duel will meet in the Final Four with the winner of the confrontation between the Czech Republic and Australia. In the other games in this top 8, Italy will play against the Netherlands and Serbia against Great Britain.
The Davis Cup final will take place November 21-26 in Malaga, Spain.