Canada's Vasek Pospisil towels off after losing the first set to France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during a Davis Cup tennis singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday February 10, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl DyckThe Canadian Press
Vasek Pospisil had the surface and favourable crowd he wanted, but his usually reliable serve let him down.
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga beat the 21-year-old Vernon, B.C., native in straight sets to stake France to a 1-0 lead over Canada in their Davis Cup tie on Friday.
The heavily-favoured Tsonga, ranked sixth in the world, prevailed 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 before a sold-out, predominantly red-and-white clad, flag-waving crowd at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
"It's tough to play without my big weapon," said Pospisil. "I need to serve well in big matches like this."
Pospisil, ranked 115th, went ahead 3-2 in the second set, but Tsonga rallied to win the next four games in a row.
Canada is playing at the World Group level for the first time in eight years. The winner of the best-of-five tie will play the winner for the quarter-finals against the winner of a U.S.-Switzerland series also being played this weekend and secure a return to this stage of the competition in 2013. The loser will be forced to compete in a playoff round to avoid relegation to the Americas Zone.
Canada, ranked 14th in the world, is an obvious underdog to fourth-ranked France, which has four players ranked in the top 35 in singles. Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., at No. 29, is the lone Canadian in that group while the other host-team players rank outside the top 100.
Tsonga said he tried to use his ranking to his advantage and cause Pospisil early discomfort.
"Today, I'm sixth in the world," Tsonga said after the match. "If I can put a lot of pressure on him at the beginning, that's tough for him."
Pospisil committed 12 unforced errors in the first set en route to 36 in total. Tsonga's almost flawless first set contained just four unforced errors, and he made a modest 16 in the entire match.
After winning a coin toss to host the event, Canada is hoping its chosen hard court, the French squad's lengthy travel and partisan spectators work to its advantage.
However, the boisterous crowd could not help Pospisil much as he committed unforced errors and struggled to counter Tsonga's strong serve. Meanwhile, Tsonga had little difficulty handling Pospisil's serve, which is considered one of the strongest parts of the Canadian's steady game.
Pospisil admitted to having a case of nerves early, but said he was not affected by the pressure of playinng at home after leading Canada to difficult road wins over Mexico, Ecuador and Israel to reach the World Group.
"It's different playing at home, but it's good," he said. "He's just a good player. He didn't really give me too many good opportunities."
Pospisil landed only 53 per cent of his first serves compared to 69 per cent for Tsonga. The Frenchmen broke Pospil's serve five times on 11 opportunities while the Canadian failed on his lone chance.
The turning point of the match came in the seventh game of the second set. With the set tied 3-3 and Tsonga holding the advantage, Pospisil double-faulted to give Tsonga the lead, set and, ultimately, the match.
When Pospisil wasn't struggling with his serve, Tsonga frustrated him by racing to drop shots and racing to score winners. Tsonga felt getting to the tough spots just in front of the net made a big difference.
"It's a good part of my game," he said. "I run fast, and when I do, I can change the way of the point."
Most fans were donned in red and white Canada shirts. A small section of France supporters waved the country's blue, white and red flag — and had more to celebrate.
Raonic, Canada's highest-ever ranked player, met Julien Benneteau in a later match.
Notes—Before play began, a moment of silence was held for a Prince George, B.C., family who died in a motor vehicle collision in the B.C. Interior while en route to the competition. Matt Altizer, his wife Leah, their children - Jonathan, 14 and Emily, 12 - and Leah's sister Heather Kress, were travelling south on Highway 97, when their SUV collided with a tractor-trailer near McLeese Lake, about 200 kilometres from their hometown. ... It's the second Davis Cup meeting between France and Canada. The French won the first competition in 1966. ... The doubles portion of the competion goes Saturday with Pospisil and Daniel Nestor of Toronto facing Benneteau and Michael Llodra. Nestor is ranked third in the world in doubles while Llodra is sixth.