体坛英语新闻：Italy, Canada deadlocked 1-1 after Davis Cup quarter-final tie opening day

VANCOUVER, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Italy and Canada split their opening day matches in their Davis Cup quarter-final tie in British Columbia Friday as each team's top singles player, Milos Raonic and Andreas Seppi, came through to earn a point in the best-of-five contest.

Canada's Raonic, No. 16 in singles in the ATP world ranking, dominated Fabio Fognini, beating the Italian in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6, 7-5. In the opening rubber, Italian Seppi, the world No. 18, dropped the first two sets and then rallied to beat Vasek Pospisil 3-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

With Canada in the quarter-finals for the first time, the team is largely here because of the play of Raonic. The Ontario native won both his matches in Canada's 3-2 upset of No. 1 ranked Spain in February and is undefeated in his four Davis Cup rubbers played in Vancouver dating back to a French tie last year.

"It was good," said a relaxed Raonic following his win over Fognini. "I kept within myself. I felt I was able to control most of the time, and I felt most of the time I was putting it in my terms and we were playing under 'Milos can decide which way this goes.' I did slip up a little bit, but my play turned that around and I'm proud with how I managed it."

As Raonic registered 25 aces in the match with his booming serve that regularly topped 200 km/h, Fognini joked that maybe next time they played he would wear a helmet.

"Returning his serve was really difficult, so he was making one minimum ace per game, so I think the match was really, really close," said the 25-year-old, currently ranked world No. 31 in singles.

Early in the opening match, Pospisil looked like he was going to pull off the upset that Canada will likely need to advance to the semi-finals when he won the first two sets 7-5, 6-4. The 22-year-old was a surprise start as a late substitute for Frank Dancevic who was ruled out of the match by Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau after a knee injury flared up in practice.

Pospisil, ranked 140th in singles, used his towering 193-cm frame and big serve to get Seppi running in the early sets. The world No. 18 then took over, taking advantage Pospisil's 47 unforced errors.

Seppi, who held his serve in the final three sets, had 27 unforced errors. In breaking Pospisil's serve four times during the last three frames, the Italian said it allowed him to concentrate more on his own serve.

"I always had an early break in each set, so that for sure give me a little bit more of confidence," said the two-time winner on the ATP Tour last year. "I just tried to stay calm and focus on my serve because I was feeling that I was serving pretty well, and also from the base line I think in the last set, I was playing better."

Pospisil, who will play in Saturday's doubles match with partner Daniel Nestor, made no excuses for letting the match get away from him after being up two sets.

"The third set, he (Seppi) stepped up for sure. I mean right from the first game (in the third set) he played great," he said. "Other than that, I think he played very well after the first two sets, he played more aggressive and consistent and yeah, he deserved to win the way he played."

In Saturday's doubles rubber, Nestor and Pospisil are scheduled to face the Italian pairing of Daniele Bracciali and Paolo Lorenzi.