Tebbutt's Take: February 11

A couple of sets of no services breaks should have given Canada a fair chance to at least be even with the French in Saturday’s Davis Cup doubles at the end of two sets.

 

But Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau ran away with the first-set tiebreak, taking a 5-0 lead and finally finishing it off 7-1 against Daniel Nestor and Milos Raonic.

 

Maybe the key point was the very first of the tiebreak when there was confusion between Daniel Nestor and Milos Raonic about who should hit a high floater down the middle. It would have been a put-away smash but instead Nestor just two-hand bunted the ball back and the point eventually ended on a Raonic volley into the net to give the French a mini-break.

 

It was just one point and a little bit of confusion, but the differences between the teams was not that great and the superior experience of the French paid off as they also took the second set tiebreak 7-2 – getting separation when Julien Benneteau hit a terrific backhand down-the-line that flashed past Milos Raonic for a winner to give his team a mini-break lead to 2-1.

 

Raonic had been a substituted for Vasek Pospisil and there will be some second-guessing of that choice. But Nestor and Raonic stayed competitive with the French pair through two whole sets, and two hours on court, so there really shouldn’t be too much criticism.

 

The French finally got a break of serve to lead 2-1 in the third set, breaking Nestor.

 

The final score was 7-6(1), 7-6(2), 6-3 and that means that Raonic must beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Vasek Pospisil overcome Gael Monfils (almost certain to replace Benneteau if it goes to a fifth match) in Sunday’s reverse singles if Canada wants to advance to the second round of the World Group.