Is Canadian Tennis Finally Going to Break Through?

So Canada is back!

...in the Americas Zone Group I.

For those who are unaware, the Americas Zone Group I is two levels below the actual World Group and one level below the World Group playoffs. This means that Canada gets another chance to play for a spot in the playoffs again next year.

The last time Canada made it to the World Group was back in 2004, and before that, only 1991 and 1992. Their best result was a semifinal appearance...back in 1913.

That being said, however, it would seem that the Canadian Davis Cup team is in good hands with some of the best Canadian players on the team in quite a while (hopefully none of them will ditch like Greg Rusedski).

Canada completely dominated the Dominican Republic, beating them 5-0. Although the Dominican Republic is not quite the country to be known for tennis, the fact that some of the matches were won quite convincingly should be encouraging. 

Peter Polansky has been showing some good form and results lately, making it to the second round of the Rogers Cup earlier in the summer (d. Jurgen Melzer) and the second round of the US Open (d. Juan Monaco), defeating seeds in the first round of both tournaments.

Then in the first match of the tie, Polansky beat Jhonson Garcia 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. A star in the making, perhaps?

And what about Milos Raonic? You may recognize that name from the duo that defeated Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in a doubles match during the first round of the Rogers Cup. 

Well, he sure showed some mental toughness in his match against the No. 1 Dominican Republic player, Victor Estrella. After saving two match points in the fourth set, Raonic defeated Estrella 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 9-7. A close match: one that was definitely well played by Raonic.

And then of course, in the doubles match, Frank Dancevic partnered with world No. 3 doubles player Daniel Nestor (partners with Nenad Zimonjic in the No. 2 team) to easily defeat their opponents 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. 

That was already enough to clinch the tie for Canada. 

But that didn't stop Polansky and Dancevic from steamrolling in the last two matches.

Polansky easily defeated Estrella 6-1, 6-2, whereas Dancevic, who was challenging himself to lose as few points as possible, beat Garcia 6-0, 6-1. (He actually wanted to make it 0 and 0 but lost a game in the second, which made him pretty upset).

So it would seem that Canada has a very decent Davis Cup team once more.

Now if only they could go farther than the Davis Cup...