Galarneau

Canada fell in the first match of its Davis Cup qualifiers tie against the Netherlands in The Hague on Friday.

Canada captain Frank Dancevic sent Alexis Galarneau to the clay court to take on world No. 48 Botic van de Zandschlup. The 332nd ranked Galarneau made an honourable showing in his first ever Davis Cup match, taking an early advantage and reaching a second set tie-break, but ultimately lost to the Dutchman 7-5, 7-6 (11-9)

Galarneau took a 3-1 lead in the first set but van de Zandschulp brought things back levelled 3-3 before picking up the set 7-5.

But Galarneau wasn’t intimidated by the much higher-ranked player.

The Laval, Que., native was steadfast in getting Canada back in the match by taking a 5-4 lead in the second set. Galarneau failed to break van de Zandschlup to take the set and the Dutchman rallied back to force a tie-break.

Down 5-2 in the tie-break, Galarneau came all the way back to grab a 7-6 lead. With his fourth match of the day, van de Zandschlup finally broke Galarneau took give the men in orange the first win of the tie.

In the second match of the day, Canada’s Steven Diez — ranked 294th — will take on world No. 54 Tallon Griekspoor.