VANCOUVER, February 7, 2026 (Tennis Canada Media Release)
Team Canada is eyeing a return to the Davis Cup Final 8 and their quest remains within reach after they sit tied 1-1 against Brazil after the first day of the Davis Cup Qualifiers 1st Round tie which took place at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver on Friday. Liam Draxl (Newmarket, ON) won the opening rubber, while Gabriel Diallo (Montreal, QC) dropped his singles match, leaving Canada level with their opponents in the best-of-five competition.
“There are three matches to go, we’ve got to win two of them, so that’s the goal right now,” said Team Canada Captain Frank Dancevic. “Just focus match by match. We’re 1-1 going in, so we’re not in a terrible position right now, we’ve even. We’re going into tomorrow, we know how the guys play. We’ve seen two matches today, of their No. 1 and 2, and we’re pretty sure they’re going to play these guys, maybe a little change, in the singles. We regroup tonight as a team. We’ve been through many of these moments in the past, where we’ve lost tough matches, we come back, and we’ve won ties. It’s part of it, it’s part of Davis Cup.”
In the opening match, No. 146 Draxl defeated Brazil’s Joao Lucas Reis da Silva in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 15 minutes. The Canadian took advantage of an early break to win the first set, and the momentum remained on the Canadian’s side of the court as Draxl took an imposing 4-0 lead in the second set. Reis da Silva earned a break back, but Draxl closed out the match, breaking his opponent once again to give Canada a 1-0 lead in the tie. The 24-year-old is 2-0 in Davis Cup singles matches and 4-0 overall.
“You definitely want to put Canada up 1-0 to start, that’s the optimal start, and just trying to do the best I can for Canada,” Draxl said in his post-match press conference. “It meant the world to me to start (well) and play a good performance.”
In the tightly contested second match, No. 39 Diallo put up a strong fight against No.253 Gustavo Heide, but it was the Brazilian who came out on top, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-6 (3). After dropping the first set in a tiebreak, the Canadian bounced back in the second set, with an early break proving the difference. In the third, both players held their nerve on serve, leading to another tiebreak. Again, it was Heide who pulled away in the tiebreak, completing one of the best wins of his career to date.
BRAZILLIANCE
Gustavo Heide levels the tie with a stunning 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(3) win against Gabriel Diallo in Vancouver #DavisCup @cbtenis pic.twitter.com/VtbTYqTfRM
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) February 7, 2026
“There are things I did well, there are things that he did really well,” said Diallo after the match. “I think it’s just a few details here and there in the important moments. I just couldn’t find the aggressiveness required to play behind those points, but tomorrow it’s going to be a great opportunity to bounce back and try to, for my part, provide a better performance.”
The win helped Brazil pull even in the tie, making Saturday’s doubles match a critical one for both teams.
