- U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz loses on his debut as world number one.
- To Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in their Davis Cup Finals group-stage clash.
- Spaniard was beaten 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2 by Canadian at the O2 Arena in London.
Carlos Alcaraz, who turned into the youngest player to top the ATP rankings when he asserted the title at Flushing Meadows on Sunday.
Joined Sergi Bruguera’s squad on Tuesday and did not play in their opening 3-0 victory over Serbia.
“I didn’t arrive in very good physical condition. Very, very tough. The court is very slow. I had just two days to adapt my game to this court. It was really tough day,” Alcaraz said.
After Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Vasek Pospisil to give Spain a 1-0 lead, Alcaraz returned to the court and won a close first set in a tiebreak before his 13th-ranked opponent changed tactics.
“It’s a big win for me and for the team,” Auger-Aliassime said. “For me, because Carlos is the new number one. But he made a big effort, so we have to pay him respect for flying across the Atlantic and coming here to play… credit for that.
“I think I showed at the end I was a bit better in the third set and I gave it all.”
With his first victory over a world number one, Auger-Aliassime, 22, helped his team square the match at 1-1 before teaming up with Pospisil to take on Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez in the doubles decider.
The Canadian team won the final three games of the rubber and the tie with a score of 4-6 6-4 7-5 after falling behind by a break at 4-5 in the decisive set.
With Spain in second place, Serbia third, and South Korea fourth, all of the teams in group B, which Canada won, have a chance to advance to the knockout rounds in Malaga from November 22–27. Each of the four groups will have two teams move on to the next round.
