Tennis Canada – Toronto, September 16, 2018 – By winning his second match of the weekend in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4, Milos Raonic propelled Canada to a 3-1 victory over the Netherlands in the World Group play-offs. This means that Canada will be one of twelve seeds for the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Qualifying Round next February to determine who will contest the Davis Cup Finals in November of 2019.  
 
The Dutch team made a change to their lineup one hour before the match, replacing Robin Haase, who is dealing with a knee injury, with world no. 224 Scott Griekspoor, who played in the first Davis Cup match of his career. The 27-year-old didn’t seem intimidated by the occasion in the first set, pushing Raonic to a tiebreak where just one mini break made the difference and allowed the Canadian to take the lead. The world no. 20 lifted his level of play in the second and third sets to earn his 18^th Davis Cup and improve his record to 12-1 in matches played on Canadian soil. This marks the sixth time in Raonic’s career that he has captured the winning point in a tie for Canada.
 
“I thought he played well. He didn’t have much to lose but there is also the stress of playing Davis Cup for the first time and being in a position where he needed to win to keep his team alive. He stepped up and played with a lot of courage. On my end, it was good to have played that match on Friday to feel the court and so I felt even more comfortable today. There was a lot on the line, that sort of excites me, gets me going and brings out some good tennis out of me,” Raonic said after the match.   
 
“We played a tough team this weekend, they weren’t easy customers, but we had our top players on this team these guys are champions; they are used to playing on big stages and under pressure in these situations. The more we can have these players playing for us, the further we can get and the better chances we have of winning Davis Cup,” said Canadian captain Frank Dancevic.
 
The Canadian squad will learn the identity of their next opponent on September 26. By winning this World Group play-off tie against the Netherlands, Canada will be one of twelve seeds in next February’s Qualifying Round which will decided which teams will contest the Davis Cup Finals in November of 2019. 
 
Results
 
Davis Cup World Group play-off tie
Canada vs. Netherlands
September 14-16, 2018
Coca-Cola Coliseum
Score: 3-1
 

Date	Match	Result
Friday, September 14	First singles match	Raonic d. de Bakker 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Friday, September 14	Second singles match	Shapovalov d. Haase 3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
Saturday, September 15	Doubles match	Middelkoop/Rojer d. Nestor/Pospisil 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Sunday, September 16	Third singles match	Raonic d. Griekspoor 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4,

 
 
About Davis Cup
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the World Cup of Tennis. It is the largest annual international team competition in sport, with 133 teams entered in 2018. The competition is 118 years old, having been founded in 1900. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas (Official Bank of Davis Cup). International sponsors are Rolex (Official Timekeeper) and Adecco (Official HR Sponsor), while Head (Official Ball) is an international partner. beIN SPORTS is the Official Global Media Rights Partner. Follow all the action on www.daviscup.com and www.copadavis.com
 
About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events, 8 professional ITF sanctioned events and financially supports 15 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates junior national training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada please visit our Web site at: www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
 
 

-30-

 
  
 
Media Contacts:
Valerie Tetreault, Manager, Communications and Media Relations
514-519-1606, vtetreault@tenniscanada.com