It was closer than many might have anticipated, given its exceptional record in doubles, but in the end, Canada's Davis Cup team prevailed in a tight-for-awhile three-setter over visiting Colombia.
The Canadian team of Daniel Nestor and Frédéric Niemeyer started slowly, but eventually found their form to record a workmanlike 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3 victory over the Colombian team of Alejandro Falla and Carlos Salamanca Saturday afternoon at the Stampede Corral.
The win gave Canada an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five Americas Zone, Group 1 tie, with the reverse singles — a mostly meaningless exercise — scheduled for Sunday. Niemeyer and Frank Dancevic, Canada's No. 1 player, are nominated to play those matches, but captain Martin Laurendeau could change his line-up and insert up-and-comer Peter Polansky to give him additional international experience.
With the win, Canada advances to the next round of the tiered Davis Cup competition and will play Brazil, on the road, in April, with a chance to complete the long road back into the prestigious 16-team World Group with a victory.
As a tandem, Niemeyer and Nestor extended their Davis Cup winning streak to a perfect 8-0. Falla and Salamanca lost just for the second time in nine outings on behalf of Colombia.
The first set featured an interesting cat-and-mouse game between the two teams, with neither able to get much of an edge on the other until the tie-break. Canada broke Falla in the fourth game, but Colombia broke Nestor right back in the fifth game to square matters. The set unfolded on serve the rest of the way, although Falla had to fend off two set points on own serve in the 12th game to stay alive.
In the tiebreak, it went Canada's way early, as they took two points off Salamanca's serve after Nestor took the opening point and rolled out to a 6-0 lead. Colombia saved two more set points at that juncture before Nestor drilled a service winner down the middle that Salamanca couldn't handle.
Things went a little easier for the Canadians in the second set. At 2-2, Canada broke Salamanca for the first time in the match and two games later, they broke Falla as well to take the set going away. At 40-15, Niemeyer — the only right-handed player on the court against three lefties — clinched the set with a booming serve to the corner of the box that Salamanca could barely get his racquet on.
Much of the suspense had gone out of the proceedings by the third set, when even the diehard Colombian supporters were quieted by the relentless Canadian power game. Falla lost his serve for the third time in the third game and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion after that. On match point, Salamanca pushed a volley long after Nestor made a low, accurate return at his feet.
Canada last qualified for the World Group in 2003 with a tight five-set win over Brazil, the last time Calgary hosted a Davis Cup tie. Canada is now a perfect 4-0, at altitude, on the speedy Taraflex court that favors its emerging team of heavy hitters.
Canada defeated Venezuela 3-2 last July at Le Club de Tennis de Granby, Quebec on the strength of two points earned by Dancevic to keep its place in Americas Zone Group 1 for 2007.
Prior to that, Canada was just 1-4 in its last five Davis Cup appearances — played in Mastricht, Netherlands; Bucharest, Romania; Valencia, Venezuela; Toronto; and Mexico City. That 4-1 loss to Mexico, outdoors on clay last April, made it a long way for Canada, but they are two-thirds of the way there now.
