Canada upends Germany with doubles win at ATP Cup, but playoff fate unclear
Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov team up for sweep after latter takes down No. 7 Zverev
Canada's Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-3, 7-6 (4) in doubles action on Tuesday to clinch a 2-1 victory over Germany and jump into second place in their group at the ATP Cup tournament.
The doubles match was needed after Canada split its two singles matches against other German players earlier in the day.
Auger-Aliassime, the No. 21-ranked player from Montreal, began the day with a 6-1, 6-4 loss against No. 35 Jan-Lennard Struff before No. 14 Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., defeated No. 7 Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-2.
The doubles win gave Canada a shot at qualifying for the quarter-finals of the tournament, depending on the records of the other teams. The Canadians would have been eliminated with a loss.
WATCH | Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime keep Canada's final eight hopes alive:
Canada went ahead 6-1 in the tiebreak of its doubles match, but the German pair fended off three match points before losing serve and handing Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime the victory.
Canada began the tournament by beating Greece last week before losing to Australia.
WATCH | Shapovalov cruises to victory over Zverev:
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime falls to Germany's Struff:
For Canada to advance, it needs Spain to beat Japan 3-0, both France and South Africa to not win 3-0, Poland to beat Austria and Croatia to not lose 3-0 to Argentina.
All of those ties will take place on Tuesday.
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—@TennisCanada