On a beautiful Friday evening at the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, the all-Canadian team of Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil wowed the locals with a stunning 6-3, 7-6(6) victory over the all-Czech team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek to book their place in the last four, where they will meet the second-seeded British-Brazilian pairing of Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.
Late Break Proves Decisive in Opener for Nestor/Pospisil
After the first seven games of the match went with serve, with both teams having to stave off multiple break points respectively, it was the more experienced all-Canadian team of Nestor and Pospisil who were finally able to make the breakthrough in the eighth game, doing so Berdych was caught flat-footed, sending a volley straight into the net to give the early advantage to the Canadians.
Serving for the set, Pospisil appeared to be well on his way to securing the opener, earning three opportunities to seal the deal right then and there. However, a pair of untimely double faults put the all-Canadian team in danger of surrendering the break, instead of using it to their advantage. But in the end, Pospisil’s serve would go from wreaking havoc to coming to the rescue; an ace on another deciding point enough to seal the Canadians the opening set, 6-3.
Pospisil/Nestor Secure Berth in Final Four
Unlike in the opening frame, the second set would start with both teams having early hiccups on serve, resulting in an early exchange of breaks. But once the Czechs were able to stop the rot in the third game, the rest of the set would go with serve.
Though both teams managed to hold their respective service games, it was Pospisil and Nestor who had a substantially easier time holding and keeping up with Berdych and Stepanek, then the Czechs did keeping their nose in front; the all-Czech team made to fight tooth and nail in order to avoid surrendering that elusive break. To their credit, the Czechs fought off all four break points after getting broken in the opening game, three of them coming on deciding points, where clutch serving proved to be the key.
In the end, the second set would ultimately culminate in a seven-point shootout, where there was little to separate both teams. To the delight of the locals, a screaming forehand return winner from Pospisil would give the Canadians to the early mini-break, to which the pair would consolidate to take a commanding 3-0 lead. However, Berdych and Stepanek refused to go down without a fight, holding both service points before earning the mini-break straight back as Nestor's volley found the tape and rolled back over. With the score now level at 3-all, tensions were rising between the teams, and the support for the Canadians was beginning to become increasingly boisterous.
From there, the sixth seeds managed to hold their nerve to edge their nose back in front at 4-3, before the Czechs responded in emphatic style—Berdych holding both service points to put his team within two points of a winner-takes-all match tiebreak. However, the Canadians would allow no such thing to happen without a fight, holding both service points of their own to earn their first match point at 6-5. But once there, Stepanek’s smash proved too hot to handle for Pospisil, as the Czechs gutsily saved the first match point.
But after the change of ends, it was the Canadians who were finally able to make that difficult breakthrough from the receiving end; Nestor making the perfect interception to give Pospisil a chance to serve out the victory. After squandering their first match point, Pospisil would make no mistake on the second, sealing the victory with an easy match putaway, much to the delight of the partisan Canadian crowd.
Nestor/Pospisil to Meet Murray/Soares Next
The Davis Cup teammates will now meet second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who survived an early onslaught from Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram to outlast the seventh seeds 10-4 in the third.