Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic gave Canada the start it was looking for in its Davis Cup tie against South Africa.
The two Canadians opened the best-of-five series with a pair of wins Friday at Uniprix Stadium.
Pospisil beat Izak van der Merwe 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the first match of the afternoon.
The Vancouver native had seven aces and broke van der Merwe four times.
Raonic defeated Nikala Scholtz, playing the singles match in place of the injured Rik de Voest, 7-5, 6-4, 7-5.
The hard-serving native of Thornhill, Ont., who is ranked 15th in the world, recorded 26 aces.
It was Pospisil's second career Davis Cup win, having defeated Israel's Dudi Sela last year.
Pospisil jumped out to a 2-0 lead in his opening set but van der Merwe rallied to tie it 2-2.
The sixth game would prove to be a turning point. Ahead 3-2 but trailing 40-love, Pospisil fought back to take a two-game lead.
He found his groove in the third set, jumping out a 3-1 lead. Van der Merwe twice inched within a game but Pospisil held his ground.
Raonic and Scholtz each held serve in the opening set until the Canadian broke Scholtz to go ahead 6-5.
Raonic dominated early in the second set but Scholtz made it interesting when he closed the gap to 5-4 and appeared on the verge of tying by taking a 30-love lead. But Raonic rallied for four straight points to take the set 6-4.
They each held serve in the third set until Raonic broke Scholtz at 5-5 to secure the win.
Pospisil will be back on the court on Saturday, teaming up with Daniel
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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