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. . & EVENTS
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Davis Cup 2012: France 4, Canada 1
Vancouver - Tsonga lifted France to a win over Canada by beating Frank Dancevic,
6-4, 6-4, 6-1, on Sunday, February 12. Canada's Milos Raonic was replaced for a
reverse singles match against France because of a knee injury. The line-up change was made about an hour before play was to begin.
In the second singles on Sunday, Canada's Vasek Pospisil lost to France`s Gael Monfils, 6-4, 6-4.
The French doubles team of Michael Llodra
and Julien Benneteau beat the Canadian duo
of Daniel Nestor of
Toronto and Milos Raonic 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 on Saturday to give France a 2-1
lead.
Earlier, on Friday, Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga cruised past Vasek Pospisil, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, but
later in the day, Milos Raonic aced Julien Benneteau 24 times to win in straight
sets, 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 to tie Canada with France at 1-1.
France will play the United States in the quarterfinals. The visiting United States
completed a 5-0 sweep of Switzerland.
The Canadian Davis Cup Team
included Milos Raonic, Daniel Nestor, Vasek Pospisil and Frank Dancevic. Peter Polansky
was in Vancouver with the team as a fifth player.
The French Team
included: world No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 13 Gael Monfils, and doubles specialists Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra.
The French captain was Guy Forget and it is his 14th and last year as captain
in that role.
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The Davis Cup Moments
Above, enjoy series of
photos (1-40) by
Jon Pesochin
and Mamood Gouneili. |
Questions:
If the Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau had
not substituted Milos for Vasek in the doubles match, wouldn't we have had
a better
chance? Is our local hero, Vasek, more of a doubles player
than Milos and would he have been a better partner for Daniel Nestor?
Didn't
Vasek
prove it big time in Israel last year?
Was Milos' decision not to play Tsonga on Sunday due to the
injury he claimed or was it a calculated plan? After all, he was
going to San Jose on Monday to defend his ATP title, and SAP, the
tournament sponsor, is one of his corporate backers (read the related
stories). Without Milos Raonic, Canada had no chance in upsetting
France.
Facts:
Monfils
arrived in Vancouver after losing the ATP final in Montpellier, France, on Sunday, to Tomas Berdych.
His ailing knees forced the French captain Guy Forget to replace Monfils with Julien Benneteau. Monfils withdrew from the SAP Open
and the Regions Morgan because of right-knee inflammation and said Wednesday,
Feb. 15 that he plans to take a brief break from tennis.
More . . . .
The Thunderbird Sports Centre
at UBC underwent metamorphosis from hockey arena to tennis court for the occasion. The venue was needed for 12 days, including setup, practice and teardown.
Canada played a memorable 1992 tie against Sweden in Vancouver when the
19-year-old Nestor beat world No. 1 Stefan Edberg on the opening day.
Philip Bester of North Vancouver
was seen hitting with team members. Philip is recovering
from a hand injury and soon will be back to the tour.
Filip Peliow,
another local player, returned to Vancouver to soak up the Davis Cup
atmosphere and get in warm-up hits with the Canadian team. |
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