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Draxl shrugged off an ankle sprain to power a 6-3, 6-4 straight-sets win over Gustavo Heide in the best-of-five event finale.
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Published Feb 07, 2026 • 4 minute read
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Liam Draxl competes in the Davis Cup Qualifiers in Vancouver on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Ethan Cairns /THE CANADIAN PRESSArticle content
Gabriel Diallo was the big name, but Liam Draxl was the big story.
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While Diallo got Canada to the fifth — and deciding — match Saturday by rallying for a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) victory over Pucinelli De Almeida of Brazil, it was left to Draxl to script another chapter of his impressive story in the Davis Cup Qualifiers First Round tie at the University of British Columbia.
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Draxl ensured Canada would have a fast start Friday with a dominant 6-3, 6-3 victory over Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva in just 76 minutes at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. He followed up Saturday night with a dramatic 6-3, 6-4 straight-sets decision over Gustavo Heide, despite a mid-match ankle sprain for the 24-year-old Richmond Hill, Ont. native.
The match triumph gave Canada the tiebreak 3-2 to move on to the Second Qualifiers in September against Slovakia or France for a shot at the final eight.
“(This was) probably the biggest match of my career and most pressure I’ve had,” said Draxl. “It means so much for me to play for your flag and country and book a spot for September. What I keep learning about myself and this team is that we lay it all out there and doing all the right things in practice and preparation.
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“We fight so hard for every point and leave it all out there. It’s a credit to the culture we have.”
And that says something for this new generation for Tennis Canada to carry the Davis Cup torch that Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapavalov held tight
“We had incredible character today,” said Canada’s captain Frank Dancevic. “It’s not easy coming back after tough losses and then having to come back and win the match to keep the tie alive. Credit to him (Diallo) in the third set. … That was a huge mental barrier for him to break in Davis Cup. A lot on his shoulders.
“And Liam, after the doubles loss, he had to come back 2 1/2 hours later to play singles and that’s very emotional.”
Draxl was in control of Saturday night’s singles match with a strong 4-2 lead when he stumbled in the back court, took a tumble, and limped to the bench. After a medical time-out to get his right ankle taped, he was able to return to the court.
“I just rolled it (ankle) a little bit,” said Draxl. “I was a little nervous and it hurt for about 30 seconds and I felt not pain with the ankle tests and thought I would probably be alright. It didn’t affect the effort.”
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Liam Draxl has his ankle wrapped during a medical time out at the Davis Cup Qualifiers in Vancouver, on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Ethan Cairns /THE CANADIAN PRESS
Draxl drilled backhand and cross-court winners and broke Heide to go up 5-3 en route to a 6-3 first set win. In the second set, he broke Heide to go up 4-3 with a looping return that caught the baseline, then served out for the incredible win.
Draxl had started his busy Saturday by teaming with Calgarian Cleeve Harper, 25 in a colossal Davis Cup confrontation with 2026 Australian Open quarter-finalists Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos. Draxl and Harper faced a Brazilian pair that never lost a set on its Aussie run.
With Matos ranked 43rd in world rankings, and Luz 59th, it was a supreme litmus test — and lessons learned in a tough 6-3, 4-6, 5-7 setback will serve them well.
The serves were there, and so were spectacular returns and aggressive net play. But the wrong mistake and the wrong time to lose crucial points and games was the biggest separator between the pairs. The margin for error against the battled-tested Brazilians was minimal and they showed their perseverance pedigree when it matters.
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Return of Diallo the returner
We know about the bombing Diallo serve, but a return game that went missing Friday was prominent Saturday.
Diallo, 24, who carried a No. 39 ATP ranking into what looked like a mismatch in the Friday nightcap, struggled with this returns and dropped a stunning 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-7(3) decision to Heide, ranked 253rd. He owned his shortcomings and vowed to make amends:
And on Saturday, he did.
Gabriel Diallo rallies with Brazil’s Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida during the second set of a Davis Cup Qualifiers tennis singles match in Vancouver, on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Ethan Cairns /THE CANADIAN PRESS
After a slow start and dropping the first test, had an early second-set break and displayed a better return game with forehand and backhand play to both courts before firing a forehand winner on serve to go up 3-0.
When he unleashed another forehand winner for the break and 5-1 lead he let out a scream, and went on to secure the set win with a cheeky net cut shot.
It was the third set that would test Diallo. From a marathon five-deuce game, the set featured long rallies and when Diallo put a forehand into the net, he faced a 6-5 deficit that became a 6-6 tie-breaker.
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That’s when Diallo showed off forehand winners to go up 3-0 and then 5-2, before more return adventures at 6-4, until he closed out the tiebreaker and the match.
“Very happy with it,” said Diallo, who was on the 2022 Davis Cup championship team. “I wanted to play the important moments with a little big more conviction and I showcased it in the tie-breaker with the my game. I controlled myself and didn’t let my opponent dictate and happy to do it under a lot of pressure.
“And there’s not one leader on the team. Everybody brings a tremendous amount of value and we have a lot of depth and we have the resources to get the job done.”
bkuzma@postmedia.com
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