体坛英语新闻：Canada rebound to even 1-1 with France in Davis Cup

VANCOUVER, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- France and Canada were leveling 1-1 after the opening day of their Davis Cup tie on Friday, as Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Canada's Milos Raonic each claimed a victory in the two singles matches.

In the opening rubber, France's Tsonga proved too much for Vasek Pospisil, a 21-year-old Canadian, as the world's sixth ranked player easily won the best-of-five series in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

Raonic, ranked 29th in the world, had a more difficult time against the 35th ranked Julien Benneteau, putting away the Frenchman in three hard-fought sets, 6-2, 6-4, 7-5.

Tsonga, a winner of eight ATP singles titles, showed his deft touch around the net by answering nearly all of Pospisil's drops shots, volleys and lobs to easily win a match that only took one hour and 51 minutes.

"The goal today in my match was to enter and go with a lot of intensity, to put on him (Pospisil) a lot of pressure, because today I'm sixth in the world and if I put a lot of intensity at the beginning then it's tough for him," said Tsonga, who added he could still play better.

"Today, I did a smooth match, very consistent, and I think at this level, you know, it's really important to be consistent."

The 115th ranked Pospisil was up 3-2 in the second set until Tsonga wrapped off the next four games to win the set. The young Canadian, who made 36 unforced errors to Tsonga's 16, lamented his erratic serving.

"A match like this can teach you a lot about your game. Obviously, I still have a lot of things to work on," he said.

Raonic, a 21-year-old Ontario native, showed his countrymen why he is one of the rising stars in world tennis. With his booming serves, the 1.96-meter right-hander, broke his opponent to make it 6-5 in the third set and then won the deciding match when he converted his second match point with an ace.

The win also avenged a loss at the Paris Masters in November when Benneteau beat Raonic in three sets.

"I've developed as a player. I've done a lot of work in the off-season that's come together the right way," said, Raonic, adding he was hungry and wanted to be "one of the best."

"Obviously, I think my return is the biggest part that's improved in this off-season ... I' m a much better returner and I'm able to create even more pressure so it's all coming together well," he said.

Canada, currently ranked 14th, is back in the World Group, the top-16 tennis nations, at the Davis Cup for the first time since 2004. Canada is a relative minnow in world tennis, but defeated Mexico, Ecuador and Israel on the road last year to advance to this weekend's tie against world No. 4 France.

Canada captain Martin Laurendeau said the team was where he thought it would be going into the day, with the respective ace players winning for each country.

"Basically two numbers ones took care of the business today for either country. I thought Tsonga played a flawless match and Milos played, he just seemed like he was in the zone in the serve and everything was flowing very nicely," Laurendeau said.

"We're going to enjoy this performance by Milos, but very shortly we'll be looking forward to tomorrow and regrouping and plan for tomorrow."

The doubles matches will be on Saturday with Benneteau and Micheal Llodra, the world No. 6 in doubles, taking on the Canadian pairing of Pospisil and the 39-year-old Daniel Nestor, ranked third in the world in doubles.

The winner of the tie will advance to the quarterfinals in April against the winners between Switzerland and USA.

The Americans took a stunning 2-0 lead Switzerland on Friday as John Isner handed former world No.1 Roger Federer his first loss in 15 Davis Cup matches.