Canada forces decisive 5th match in Davis Cup qualifier against Hungary
Winner of the 2-day, best-of-3 tie in Montreal advances to 2nd round in September
Canada has rallied back to force a decisive fifth match against Hungary in Davis Cup action Sunday.
Montreal's Gabriel Diallo rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Hungary's Fabian Marozsan in the men's team tennis tournament first-round qualifier at Montreal's IGA Stadium.
Earlier, Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., defeated Hungary's Mate Valkusz and Peter Fajta 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a must-win doubles match.
Canada's back was against the wall after falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-five tie with two singles losses Saturday. Marozsan beat Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., before Marton Fucsovics toppled Diallo.
Galarneau will battle against Fucsovics in the fifth match later Sunday.
The winner of the two-day tie advances to the second round of qualifiers in September. The losing team will be relegated to the World Group 1 level.
Canada has reached the quarterfinals the last two years and won nine of its last 10 home ties.
WATCH | Diallo cruises past Marozsan:
Canada is ranked third in the Davis Cup standings, while Hungary is 22nd. But top Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov are unavailable this weekend.
No. 22 Auger-Aliassime won the Open Occitanie in Montpellier, France, earlier Sunday and the 53rd-ranked Shapovalov withdrew from the Davis Cup last week, citing a back injury.
Hungary made a late change to its doubles lineup Sunday, replacing Marozsan with Fajta.
Pospisil, 34, is a doubles specialist who climbed to a career-high No. 4 ranking in 2015. The 23-year-old Draxl is ranked No. 113, but the two players competed together for the first time.
Meanwhile, Valkusz does not have a doubles ranking and Fajta is No. 2,015.
WATCH | Canada stays alive in Davis Cup 1st round with doubles win:
Both teams held serve through the first set. Canada had the first chance to break while leading 4-3 when it rallied back from 40-love. Pospisil, however, was unable to return a serve from Valkusz on break point and Hungary held on.
Canada later jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak when Draxl converted a volley at the net. Pospisil then hit an ace on set point to give Canada the advantage.
Early in the second set, Pospisil hit a backhand return winner down the line to break Hungary for the first time and give Canada a 2-1 lead.
Hungary earned two break-point opportunities while trailing 3-2, but Canada fended them off with four unanswered points off strong serves from Pospisil.
The Canadians held serve the rest of the way, with Pospisil hitting another ace on match point before a raucous 1,760 spectators around the intimate indoor hard court.
No. 85 Diallo then stepped onto the court and broke No. 58 Marozsan three times in a dominant first set.
The 23-year-old went up 5-3 in the second set when he broke Marozsan a fifth time before serving it out by smashing his 11th ace on match point. The match lasted 63 minutes.
