Tennis Canada – Osijek, Croatia, February 4, 2018 – Canada had to have a perfect day on Sunday in Osijek if they were going to beat Croatia and advance to the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas quarter-finals, but Borna Coric sealed the tie for the home country thanks to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Denis Shapovalov in the fourth match.

Shapovalov sees his three match win streak in Davis Cup ended by the no. 47 ranked Croat. Coric, who opened the tie with victory over Vasek Pospisil, was the star of the weekend for Croatia. He played a virtually flawless match from start to finish, committing very few unforced errors and earning one break of serve in each set.

“He’s more experienced than me in clay he grew up on it and it showed. He played unbelievable. I tried to stay close to him hoping for an opportunity but credits to him he never dropped his level. I thought I actually played well but it wasn’t enough today,” said Shapovalov.

This was Frank Dancevic’s first tie as captain for the Canadian team after taking over from Martin Laurendeau who held the role since 2004.  

“We were so close to winning that match yesterday and it could have changed a lot today’s match. Borna would have had a lot more pressure but today he was very relaxed and comfortable. Denis did everything he could do today, he tried to change a few things in his game, but Borna pushed him to make mistakes,” Dancevic said.

Croatia, ranked no. 5 in the Davis Cup rankings and champion of the event in 2016, advance to the quarter-finals to face Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, Canada, ranked no. 15 in Davis Cup, will now play the World Group playoffs from September 14-16, 2018 to try and stay among the top 16 nations in the world for 2019. Canada, who will learn the identity their next opponent in April, has been part of the World Group for the past seven years.

Final Results
 
Davis Cup World Group first round tie
Canada vs. Croatia
February 2-4, 2018
Sportska Dvorana Gradski Vrt, Osijek
Score: 1-3

 

Date	Match	Result
Friday, February 2nd	First singles match	Coric d. Pospisil 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
Friday, February 2nd	Second singles match	Shapovalov d. Galovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
Saturday, February 3rd	Doubles match	Dodig/Skugor d. Nestor/Pospisil 2-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 6-2
Sunday, February 4th	Third singles match	Coric d. Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4, 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.

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