Davis Cup 2019 final: Canada v Spain – live updates!

First set: Felix Auger Aliassime 4-3* Roberto Bautista Agut: Auger Aliassime has found a nice rhythm on his serve and he puts together a second consecutive love hold, sealed with a big unreturned serve down the T. Conditions are so fast at Madrid’s altitude which means that dominant serving is to be expected.

First set: Felix Auger Aliassime *3-3 Roberto Bautista Agut: For all his great work in his service games, Auger Aliassime is spraying a few too many errors on return. Bautista Agut picks up a third love hold to level the match after a series of forehand errors from Auger Aliassime. The Spaniard still hasn’t dropped a point on his serve and the pressure returns to the youngster.

First set: Felix Auger Aliassime 3-2* Roberto Bautista Agut: The most impressive aspect of Auger Aliassime’s breakthrough year has been his performances on clay and slower surfaces this year. He is putting those lessons into action against the defence of Bautista Agut in these long rallies today. He won another long rally at 15-0, ending the point with a wicked crosscourt forehand. From 30-0, he finished with a great backhand down the line winner followed by a big ace down the T.

First set: Felix Auger Aliassime *2-2 Roberto Bautista Agut: The Spaniard levels the set with another great love hold, sealed with a big unreturned serve. Before that, Auger Aliassime offered up three consecutive backhand errors to bring up 40-0. Too many gifts from the youngster.

First set: Felix Auger Aliassime 2-1* Roberto Bautista Agut: A pumped up Auger Aliassime digs out a brilliant hold from 0-30 down, his confidence building. The Spaniard opened with a brilliant crosscourt forehand return, forcing an error from the Canadian. A missed forehand from Auger-Aliassime brought up 0-30 and a loud “vamos!”

The youngster responded well, winning a long physical rally with an inside out forehand winner to level the game at 30-30. Then at 30-30, Auger-Aliassime came up with the rally of the match, grinding out a forehand error after the longest point of all. He held with a big unreturned serve.

These rallies are already long and they should suit the Spaniard. He will not be happy about that missed opportunity.

First set: Felix Auger Aliassime *1-1 Roberto Bautista Agut: The Spaniard responds with a solid hold of his own. The rallies are already longer on Bautista’s serve and he is already showing his consistency, grinding a few forehand errors out of the Canadian. At 40-0, he slammed down an ace out wide to hold to love. Both players are off to a good start.

First set: Felix Auger Aliassime 1-0* Roberto Bautista Agut: Auger-Aliassime opened with a huge forehand down the line winner, then a he swept into the net and picked off a sweeet volley. After reaching 40-0, he double faulted and then shanked a forehand well long. But at 40-0, he slammed down an ace down the T.

Plenty of conviction from the Canadian, but also some nerves. A good start.

So, who will win this first rubber? Auger-Aliassime and Bautista Agut have never faced each other. The Spaniard is enjoying the best season of his career and he currently sits at his best ranking of 9. Bautista is such a unique player with extremely flat groundstrokes that almost never miss. His forehand is one of the best around and he backs it up with great movement and return. However, the Spaniard’s Davis Cup record isn’t the best. His Davis Cup record is just 7-6 and he has lost a few significant matches over the years, including earlier in the week against Andrey Rublev.

This has been an incredible breakout year for Auger-Aliassime, who reached the top 20 earlier this year and reached his first Masters 1000 semi-final in March. The tennis season is so gruelling and he seemed to run out of gas in the final weeks. The Canadian will have to serve extremely well and control the match with his forehand, or else the Spaniard will break him down.

This match comes with many more intangibles than a regular event. Auger-Aliassime has never competed under this amount of pressure before and he comes in undercooked. He hasn’t played since early October after injuring his ankle and this is just his third Davis Cup match (his record is 1-1).

For Bautista, this has clearly been a devastating week after his father passed away. He will be seeking solace at home on the tennis court.

Roberto Bautista-Agut before the final:

“It’s gonna be amazing to play the final with our crowd. Happy with the situation of the team, happy about the effort of my teammates and hope to enjoy the final. If we can, we will take the win.”

The players are coming out. Felix Auger-Aliassime in his pre-match interview:

“It’s unbelievable. It’s historic for my part. My ankle has been great for the past week. I’ve been on the sideline and ready to go all week.”

The new edition of the Davis Cup is partly run by Gerard Pique, so it should come as no surprise that Shakira is currently performing in the closing ceremony before the final. Play will begin shortly.

The nominations are and we have a big shock. 19 year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime has been drafted in for his very first match of the week, replacing Vasek Pospisil. Pospisil has been incredible for Canada this week, winning his first three singles matches and leading the doubles team, but he did look quite exhausted in his 6-4 6-4 loss to Andrey Rublev yesterday. He also hurt his shin after colliding with the net post in doubles.

Auger-Aliassime will face Roberto Bautista Agut who, as expected, will compete for the first time since his father passed away this week.

If needed, Pospisil will likely to return to the court for the doubles.

Hello! Welcome to our coverage of the title match of the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid. After all the arguments and discussion about the new era of this historic competition, this has been some week. There have been organisational issues, matches finishing past 4am, half-empty stadiums and plenty of valid criticisms of this abbreviated format, but the biggest takeaway is that tennis is tennis regardless of where it is played. As long as the core scoring system remains intact and the players care enough to produce their best, this sport is always going to be exciting and desperately tense.

Few days of tennis this year have been as tense as yesterday’s semi-finals, where Canada recovered from 0-1 down to vanquish Russia. First Denis Shapovalov edged out a three set win over Karen Khachanov, then Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil defeated Khachanov and Andrey Rublev in an excruciating third set tiebreak.

Last night’s tie between Great Britain and Spain produced three straight sets matches but somehow the stakes felt even higher, even more desperate, with Nadal almost single-handedly dragging Spain into the final. After Kyle Edmund’s solid win over Feliciano Lopez, Nadal blitzed Dan Evans and then carried a struggling Lopez into the final with an incredible win over Neal Skupski and Jamie Murray 7-6(3) 7-6(8). In a year that Nadal won two Grand slams and finished as the oldest ever ATP year end number one, few moments have impressed as much as the way he saved Great Britain’s set points in the second set tiebreak.

So, here we are. The Spanish team was decimated yesterday after Lopez was forced to step in following the tragic death of Roberto Bautista Agut’s father and injuries ruled out Pablo Carreno Busta and Marcel Granollers. We still await the official nominations but there are rumours that No 9 Bautista Agut, who returned to support his teammates yesterday from the bench, could return to the court today. The clear priority is his mental health, but if he does feel okay to play, it will clearly tip the scales heavily in Spain’s favour.

Across the net, Canada have played with only two players this week, Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil, and they have been spectacular. They will almost certainly rely on their two heroes again as they contest their first ever Davis Cup final. What a breakthrough year this has been for Canadian tennis, from their first ever Grand Slam champion in Bianca Andreescu to their rising stars on the ATP. A victory would be the perfect way to end it.