The Canadian Davis Cup team is one win away from clinching its Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first-round tie against Japan after Daniel Nestor (Toronto) and Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver) defeated Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on the campus of University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
It was an up-and-down affair, with neither team able to hold onto their momentum from set to set. Canada jumped out to the one-set lead by breaking at 6-5 in the first set but Japan rapidly came back with an early break in the second set. The third and fourth sets followed in similar fashion, with neither pair able to overcome early service breaks by their opponents. The two teams ended up with similar serving statistics, with Nestor and Pospisil winning 75 per cent of their first serve points, 56 per cent on their second serve, and going four-for-11 on break chances compared to 72 per cent for Soeda and Yasutaka on their first serve, 47 per cent on their second, and four-for-12 on break point opportunities.