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Undermanned Canada will count on Frank Dancevic and Davis Cup rookie Filip Peliwo as it takes on Belgium
The draw for Canada's World Group quarter-final tie against Belgium was made Thursday in Middelkerke, and on paper it looks a little grim.
The Canadian No. 1 is Frank Dancevic, currently ranked No. 272 on the ATP Tour, while the Belgian No. 1 is David Goffin, currently ranked a career-best No. 14.
The Canadian No. 2 will be North Vancouver's Filip Peliwo, ranked No. 491 and making his Davis Cup debut, while the No. 2 Belgian will be Steve Darcis, ranked No. 76 and, at age 31, infinitely more experienced. (When Darcis turned pro, Peliwo was nine years old).
It's a long way from the hopes Canadian tennis had for this tie, back before injuries hit and it could boast Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil on the roster.
Not only that, it's being played on red clay.
Davis Cup can be a crapshoot, with underdogs posting upsets over favoured players at a far higher rate than you see on the regular tour given the emotion of representing the country and the team aspect. But it's a lot tougher to do on the road, without a partisan crowd cheering on.
The draw has No. 1 Canadian Dancevic starting off against No. 2 Belgian Steve Darcis, followed by Peliwo against the top Belgian, Goffin.
Dancevic and Darcis have faced off twice, in qualifying at WImbledon in 2009 and the previous year in qualifying at the ATP Tour hard-court event in Sydney, Australia – in other words, a million years ago. Darcis won both in straight sets. Dancevic and Goffin met once, on an indoor hard court when the Belgian was still a teenager; Goffin won that one 6-2, 6-3.
The doubles on Saturday has Canadian legend Daniel Nestor teamed up with fellow doubles specialist Adil Shamasdin for only the second time in their careers, against Ruben Bemelmans (a lefty) and youngster Kimmer Coppejans, who is a month younger than Peliwo and defeated him in the 2012 French Open boys' final. He's currently ranked No. 102 and the tie is being held in his hometown.
Doubles lineups can change, though, and usually do. The Canadians likely will stick with their two players but if need be, the Belgians can substitute one of their singles players.
On Sunday, the reverse singles will have the two No. 1s, Dancevic and Goffin, up first followed by Peliwo vs. Darcis.
The first team to win three matches advances to the semi-finals against Argentina or Serbia.
Here's the press-release quote from Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau:
“We know we have a tall task in front of us but this is Davis Cup and I’ve always said rankings don’t matter in Davis Cup. “I’ve said that when we are favoured to win and I’ve said it when we are the underdogs. We came here to try and reach the semifinals and we have worked hard this week and prepared ourselves to give us the best possible chance of achieving that goal. This is not an opportunity that presents itself often and we want to seize it. Our players are ready to go out there and leave it all on the court.”
If it helps – at all – Canada leads Belgium 1-0 in Davis Cup competition. They swept the tie 4-0 ... back in 1913.
The matches on Friday and Sunday begin at 7 a.m. EDT, while the doubles begins at 9 a.m. EDT. All the matches will be broadcast in English on Sportsnet, and in French on TVA Sports.
