OTTAWA — Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil was stellar in a 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 win over Kyle Edmund on Friday to tie Canada's Davis Cup World Group series with Britain 1-1.
Britain's Daniel Evans beat Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, earlier in the day.
The two countries will be back in action Saturday afternoon as Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Pospisil face Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot in doubles action.
Pospisil, who has had his share of struggles over the past 12 months, had been looking forward to the Davis Cup and didn't disappoint.
There was some concern when Pospisil called a medical timeout during the first set as he appeared to have some issues with his left leg, but he continued and went on to win the set.
Pospisil had Edmund running all over the court and frustration was setting in as the Briton had no response for the Canadian's game.
After a lengthy first set, Pospisil took over in the second as Edmund had 11 unforced errors to Pospisil's one.
Edmund fought back in the third set and was up 5-4, but Pospisil came back to tie it 6-6 and force the tiebreaker.
An ace followed by a double fault allowed Pospisil to go up 6-2, delighting the boisterous crowd. Pospisil then rifled down a serve which Edmund was unable to return to seal the win.
Earlier in the day, Evans, ranked 45th in the world, was the heavy favourite, but the 17-year-old Shapovalov gave him a hard time in their match.
"I don't think I did too bad to be honest," said Shapovalov. "I think (Evans) played very well on the big points and I just couldn't convert on the big points. I think I handled it pretty well, but obviously I would want to do better, but he's playing with a lot of confidence right now and he's a great player so it's very tough to go against someone when they're hot."
Shapovalov, ranked 234th, is starting to make the transition from the junior game to the men's and this weekend is an opportunity to gain some much-needed experience.
In the end, maturity and patience were the difference as Evans took advantage of Shapovalov's numerous errors. Shapovalov had 39 unforced errors in comparison to Evans's 19.
Evans comes in ranked as Britain's No. 1 and admitted he felt some pressure to ensure he didn't allow the young Canadian to get best of him.
"I was a bit nervous," said Evans. "I was obviously playing Shapovalov and it would be a big upset if he beat me so I had to focus pretty hard throughout the whole match and put him to bed and keep him down for the whole match."
Trailing two sets to none, Shapovalov looked to mount a comeback in the third and seemed to be playing with more confidence as nerves settled down. But Evans fought back and broke serve in the ninth game and then went on to win the 10th to defeat Shapovalov in straight sets.
The left-hander tried to play to his strengths, being aggressive, playing close to the net and using his big serve, but Evans seemed to have an answer for everything.
"Dan did a good job to expect that and I think he played me very smart so credit to him."
In the first set both Evans and Shapovalov struggled with first serves.
Shapovalov, who won't play again until Sunday, said he'll take some time to regroup and review his performance with team Canada captain Martin Laurendeau and his mother, Tessa, who both serve as his coaches.
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