A 173-place gap, and it went the wrong way
France are 2-0 down to Canada after the opening day of their Davis Cup qualifier at the Videotron Centre in Quebec. One more point and the Canadians are in the Final 8 in Bologna, 24 to 29 November.
The damage was done in the very first singles rubber. Liam Draxl, world No 205, beat Arthur Rinderknech, ranked 32nd, 6-2, 7-5. It was Draxl’s first match against a top-50 player. Broken in the opening game, France’s No 1 never found a rhythm, and although he carved out a set point at 5-4 in the second, he let it go and dropped serve again at 5-5.
Rinderknech did not look for cover afterwards. “I couldn’t start much worse. After that there was a battle, but it didn’t go my way.”
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Nineteen aces, two double faults, no reward
Quentin Halys kept the Quebec crowd nervous for a long stretch. In his first Davis Cup match with anything on the line, the world No 49 hung with Felix Auger-Aliassime, ranked fifth and playing at home, for more than two hours.
He lost a tight opening set in a breaker, then broke back to level the match. Nineteen aces by the end. The whole thing turned on two consecutive double faults in the third set, which handed over the break that mattered. Auger-Aliassime took it 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.
Without Arthur Fils, Paul-Henri Mathieu leaned on Rinderknech, Halys, Luca Van Assche, Benjamin Bonzi and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Canada were short too. Gabriel Diallo is out with a leg injury, and Keegan Rice came in.
Three straight wins or nothing
Day two starts Saturday at 8pm French time, live on beIN Sports. Bonzi and Herbert open against Auger-Aliassime and Duncan Chan. Lose the doubles and the tie is dead.
Win it and Rinderknech gets Auger-Aliassime in the No 1 rubber, with a possible decider between Halys and Draxl behind it. Three wins in a row, away, against a team with the world No 5 in it. Herbert, No 29 in the doubles rankings, is the one card Les Bleus can play with any confidence.
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