In the Davis Cup quarter-final, the Otto Virtanen/Harri Heliovaara doubles brought the winning point to Finland, 2-1 winner over defending champion Canada, by beating the pair Alexis Galarneau/Vasek Pospisil 7-5 , 6-3, Tuesday in Malaga. For this opening quarter of the final phase, in the absence of the leaders of each team, slightly injured — the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (29th) and the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori (69th) –, Milos Raonic (318th) opened the scoring for Canada by beating Patrick Kaukovalta (715th) 6-3, 7-5. Finland equalized thanks to the success of Otto Virtanen (171st) over Gabriel Diallo (139th) 6-4, 7-5 in the second singles.
In the decisive doubles, Finland won the first set 7-5, after Pospisil had his right shoulder manipulated for a long time at 6-5 before giving up his serve. Captain Jarkko Nierminen’s team took the second 6-3, breaking at 4-3.
Raonic still has beautiful remains in the service, his major asset during the time of his splendor. He slammed four aces on the first four points, managed 18 in total, and only gave up one point on his engagement in a first set with few rallies dispatched in 24 minutes. In this first act, the former world No.3 who had fallen to the depths of the ATP rankings after years of injuries made the decisive break at 4-3, after having already had openings at 3-2. He was making his return to the Davis Cup after five years of absence. In the second set, the tall Canadian (1.96 m) this time achieved the fateful break at 5-5, on a missed volley from Kaukovalta, and won the match on his serve, won “white” and concluded with a… .ace.
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In the second singles, Virtanen, Finnish No.2, achieved the first break against the Canadian No.3 at 1-1 on a superb point, by attracting Diallo to the net with a drop shot to better lob it, before breaking away 3 -1. More solid, more offensive, efficient on serve, piercing with a forehand, Virtanen retained this advantage to win the first set 6-4 in 38 minutes against an opponent capable of brilliant shots but a little tender.
In the second act, the match could have tilted in his favor at 4-4. Virtanen then had two break points but wasted them by sending the ball into the net twice on a forehand. It moved to 5-5 on the side of the Finn, who this time converted a new break point by pushing Diallo to the fault after a long exchange, before concluding on his serve, achieving an ace — his 14th of the game — on the first match point. The Finns will meet for a place in the final the winner of the second quarter who will pit Australia, outgoing finalist, against the Czech Republic on Wednesday.