ATP Men's Tennis

Top seeds Spain dumped out of Cup
Spain’s efforts to reclaim their Davis Cup crown surrendered in 2012 have already come to an end after this year’s number one seeds made the tennis betting news headlines by falling in the first round of the World Group to Canada last weekend.

Marcel Granollers and Guillermo Garci-Lopez were Spain’s main hopes of surpassing an unseeded Canadian side, but the pair got off to a poor start in Vancouver – the team falling 2-1 down by Saturday evening.

It was the first time Spain had fallen at the World Group first hurdle in seven years, a result that shocked many punters in the betting community who had backed them in the tennis betting offers.

Captain Alex Corretja chose Garcia-Lopez over higher-ranked Granollers for Sunday’s crucial showdown with Milos Raonic, but the world number 82 was no match for Raonic’s power, Canada surfacing 6-3 6-4 6-2 victors to take an insurmountable 3-1 victory.

Sadly, the future of Spain’s dominance in this tournament is now under real threat after their three top-ranked players all pulled out of the first-round tie. While Rafael Nadal continues his comeback from a series of injuries, world number five David Ferrer was allowed to opt out of the tournament and focus on his singles career.

It is only fair that Ferrer takes a break after reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open last month, yet with Nicolas Almagro also withdrawing from national duties – blaming fatigue – Spain’s squad travelling to Vancouver was severely weakened.

You can’t really blame Garcia-Lopez and Granollers for failing to live up to the standard Nadal, Ferrer and Almagro have set over the years; yet with this trio now focussing on their singles careers there is little chance Spain fans on Bet365 will see the same sort of success that yielded three Davis Cup titles in five years.