Canada’s Davis Cup team named for Japan tie
Tennis Canada on Tuesday announced its Davis Cup team that will take on Japan in Vancouver from March 6-8.
There are no surprises in the squad as they open the 2015 World Group featuring the 16 top men’s tennis nations vying for the eight spots in the quarterfinals.
Milos Raonic – ranked sixth in the world – will headline a strong team that reached the semifinals in 2013. Joining him are Vasek Pospisil, Daniel Nestor and Frank Dancevic. For Nestor, it is an unprecedented 23rd year of Davis Cup action.
Daniel Nestor (right) and Vasek Pospisil during warm-up prior to their Davis Cup match versus Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
Japan will be led by Raonic rival and world no. 5, Kei Nishikori. The two men recently met in Brisbane prior to the Australian Open with all three sets going to tiebreak before Raonic prevailed. Nishikori holds a lifetime 4-2 edge over Raonic in ATP tour play. The two men in their early 20s are poised butt heads throughout the rest of their rising careers. The rest of the Japanese team feature Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito and Yasutaka Uchiyama.
The winning team of the best-of-five series will move to the quarterfinals to face the winner of Belgium-Switzerland, the losing side will have to compete in playoffs to remain in World Group for 2016.
Canada kept its 2015 World Group place by beating Colombia in Halifax late last summer.
Olympic.ca will be on hand at Vancouver’s Doug Mitchell Thurderbird Sports Centre with live updates on Facebook at the conclusion of each match. The tie will also be broadcast live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
