CANADA’S “B Team” was unable to really give a yelp in the 2022 Davis Cup World Group Qualifiers, getting swept by Netherlands in the fifth seed’s clash. Though Canada seems all but certain to receive a wildcard as the highest ranked loser, the North American nation was no match for the Dutch outfit in their clash at The Hague, going down 4-0.

Canada went into the clash without Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil, and it really cost them, with the reinvigorated pair of Botic Van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor racing the Dutch out to an early lead. The straight sets results over late inclusion Steven Ten and Alexis Galarneau were followed by a doubles win from specialist Dutch pairing Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop, who beat the strange pairing of Peter Polansky and Brayden Schnur who were Canada’s actual highest ranked singles players. The Dutch wrapped up the home tie with a dominant win for Robin Haase over Ten.

Though the other seeded results went to plan, there were a couple of scares. The biggest came when world number 10s and seventh seed Italy went 2-1 down against lowly ranked Slovakia. The equal 29th ranked Slovakians were playing at home, but even they perhaps gave more than many thought, with 203rd ranked Filip Horansky stunning world number 21 Lorenzo Sonego. When Filip Polasek and Igor Zelenay defeated specialist doubles player Simone Bolelli and young gun Jannik Sinner, the Italians found themselves behind. Sinner had luckily collected both singles wins against Norbert Gombos and then Horansky, with Lorenzo Musetti thrown into the deciding singles to replace Sonego. Falling a set down against Gombos, the young gun found a way to win, getting up 6-7 6-2 6-4 to salute and guarantee Italy’s place in the Davis Cup Finals.

Australia also perhaps got more than the green and gold bargained for in its clash with Hungary. After their top singles player Alex de Minaur won the first singles rubber against Zsombor Piros, everything was on track. But then Marton Fucsovics toppled Thanasi Kokkinakis and the unlikely doubles pairing of Fabian Marozsan and Mate Valkusz upset Australian specialist doubles duo John Peers and Luke Saville. Luckily for the home crowd, de Minaur and Kokkinakis came up trumps in the singles, defeating Fucsovics and Piros in straight sets.

Belgium was the other seed to cop a scare, having to go the full five rounds with 32nd ranked Finland. Former Top 10 player David Goffin only just got past world number 405 Otto Virtanen in the opening singles game, but it is lucky for the Belgians he did, with young gun Emil Ruusuvuori winning his singles against Zizou Bergs, then then teamed up with Harri Heliovaara to defeat Goffin and Sander Gille in the doubles. Goffin became the hero to knock off Ruusuvuori in straight sets, before Bergs easily accounted for Virtanan.

The only other upset came from the unseeded clash between South Korea and Austria. Whilst the latter was missing star player Dominic Thiem, it was still expected to account for the former fairly well. Though the two highest respective singles players Dennis Novak (Austria) and Soonwoo Kwon (South Korea) both saluted in their rubbers, it was the doubles upset of Jisung Nam and Minkyu Song over experienced Austrian pairing Alexander Erler and Jurgen Melzer that changed the game. Kwon then took down Novak to secure the tie, with the Austrian Jurij Rodionov strong favourite against Nam in the reverse singles had it gone ahead. The victory marked the first ever time South Korea would reach the World Group.

Of the other results, top seed France brushed past Ecuador 4-0, as did the United States against Colombia. Though Romania managed to secure a doubles rubber, the European nation was never going to be much chance against a strong Spanish lineup, whilst Germany – with the help of Alexander Zverev – overcame Brazil on the clay, with Thiago Monteiro‘s win over Jan-Lennard Struff the sole match win for the home team. Elsewhere, the consistency of Kazakhstan proved too much for Norway, as Alexander Bublik took out Casper Ruud in a huge upset to seal the tie, whilst Sweden toppled Japan 3-2, and Argentina unsurprisingly swept Czech Republic 4-0 at home.

With the Qualifiers done and dusted, it means the 12 winners join 2021 runners-up Croatia, and two wildcards Serbia and Great Britain in the Davis Cup Finals, with one spot still up for grabs after reigning champion Russia was banned from competing due to its invasion of Ukraine. Canada holds the highest world spot from those not yet qualified and would be favoured to slot in for that spot.

QUALIFIERS RESULTS:

[1] FRANCE (4) defeated ECUADOR (0)
[2] SPAIN (3) defeated ROMANIA (1)
FINLAND (2) lost to [3] BELGIUM (3)
[4] USA) defeated COLOMBIA (0)
NETHERLANDS (4) defeated [5] CANADA (0)
BRAZIL (1) lost to [6] GERMANY (3)
SLOVAKIA (2) lost to [7] ITALY (3)
[8] AUSTRALIA (3) defeated HUNGARY (2)
NORWAY (1) lost to KAZAKHSTAN (3)
SWEDEN (3) defeated JAPAN (2)
ARGENTINA (4) defeated CZECH REPUBLIC (0)
SOUTH KOREA (3) defeated AUSTRIA (1)