MONTREAL — Canada fell just short of an impressive comeback against Hungary in Davis Cup action Sunday.
Marton Fucsovics defeated Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., 7-6 (8), 6-4, in the decisive fifth match to lift Hungary past Canada 3-2 in the men’s team tennis tournament first-round qualifier.
Canada had battled back after falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-five tie with two singles losses Saturday.
Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., opened the day by beating Hungary’s Mate Valkusz and Peter Fajta 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a must-win doubles match.
Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo then rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan at IGA Stadium.
Hungary advances to the second round of qualifiers in September. Canada has been relegated to the World Group 1 level.
Canada won its first-ever Davis Cup title in 2022 and reached the quarterfinals the last two years. The country lost for only the second time in its last 11 ties on home soil.
Canada was ranked third in the Davis Cup standings and the Hungarians were 22nd. But top Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov were 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.
Galarneau, ranked No. 176, fought hard against Fucsovics, a former world No. 31.
Tied 3-3 in the first set, Galarneau fended off six break points to hold serve and take the lead. He later saved three set points during the tiebreak — drawing “Olé, Olé, Olé” chants out of the raucous 1,760 spectators around the intimate indoor hard court.
Fucsovics, however, ultimately took the marathon set in 74 minutes.
The 25-year-old Galarneau jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Fucsovics charged back with two breaks in a row. Galarneau thwarted two match points in the final game before sending his backhand into the net on Fucsovics’s third.
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.
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.
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.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
