After three one-sided matches so far, we finally got our Davis Cup fireworks on the final day... and how! After Lareau dominated a tight Chela in the first two sets, he got a little tight himself: the 47th ranked Chela proceeded to produce his best tennis of the weekend to take the next two sets, and force the wild and woolly climax. Let us jump directly to the decisive fifth set.

The start of the fifth set saw Lareau looking more like the confident and efficient attacker who dominated sets one and two, as opposed to the error-prone player we saw in the third and fourth sets. He opened the fifth with a confident love hold and immediately put Chela in trouble on the Argentine's serve. Lareau had two break points, and appeared will positioned to take a 2-0 lead on the second break point when he attacked a short Chela ball, but floated his slice approach shot long. Chela eventually took the game with some strong serves and forehands, levelling the set at 1-1.

It was Lareau's turn to get in trouble on his serve at 2-2, and he did not escape. At 30-30 the Montreal native's forehand caught the tape and refused to cross the net, and Chela converted the break point on an awesome backhand cross-court pass. Chela, normally taciturn on court (with his dark hair, tall, slim build and serious demeanour, he looks somewhat like a baseline version of Tim Henman), exploded with a fist pump and "VAMOS!". The Argentine fans (more numerous today than on Friday and Saturday) roared, and captain Franco Davin leaped out of his chair to celebrate. Chela easily consolidated the break, led 4-2, and seemed on his way to victory.

But you just never know in this sport! Even now, there were ominous signs that Chela was tiring physically. He said after the match, "my leg was starting to hurt from cramps at the beginning of the fifth set." The Canadians picked up on this: captain Louis Cayer and the Canadian bench were shouting at Lareau, "His legs are going!" Lareau held to pull to 3-4, and then broke Chela as the Argentine, now labouring to run down shots, gave Lareau a short ball at 30-40 that the Canadian smacked for a winner with a forehand cross-court. The crowd of over 2,678 hurled with cacophonous glee, and the deciding frame was level at 4-4.

Then came the wild ninth game, the turning point of the match. Lareau looked edgy, and sent an errant forehand out to make it 30-30. On the next point Chela struck a forehand that appeared at least two inches long: in fact I actually looked down to make a few notes, convinced the point was over. But wait, there was no call! I looked back up just in time to see Chela crack a dynamic inside-out forehand winner. A furious Lareau slammed his racquet, turning it into a mangled mess: "the first time I've e ver done that," claimed the mild-mannered Canadian whom television commentator Luke Jensen once dubbed "Mister Mellow". Captain Cayer argued heatedly and ripped off his cap, tossing it to the ground, earning his a warning from umpire George Rustscheff: "the first warning of my life," according to Cayer. Certainly it was quite a point for career first misbehaving! However, Rustscheff and referee Andreas Egli refused to change the call, and it took a while to calm the howling crowd.

When play finally resumed, Lareau, far from losing his concentration at the call, appeared more determined than ever. Chela commented with irony, "when he broke his racquet it was as if he got all of the pressure and tension out of him." It was 30-40, break point for Chela. With the Canadian at the net, Juan Ignacio let go a cross-court backhand pass attempt, but Lareau anticipated the direction of the shot and placed a backhand volley smack on the line. "It was a great play," noted Cayer approvingly after the match, "because Chela usually tries to pass cross-court and Sébastien anticipated it perfectly." At deuce now, Lareau caught a break when his backhand volley ticked off the tape and trickled over the net. The unlucky Chela bent over and stared it the court in dismay for several seconds. Advantage Lareau: Lareau serves and volleys, Chela tries another backhand pass, but down the line this time, but again Lareau anticipates perfectly and nails the forehand volley. Canada leads 5-4, and Lareau is one game away from clinching the tie.

More dramatics with Chela serving at 4-5, 30-30: he stops play and hobbles to his seat! Huh? "Injury time out," intoned umpire Rustscheff. I have never seen an injury time out taken at such a strange time, with the injured player serving and two points from defeat. Lareau walked around trying to stay focused while the trainer applied ice and massages to Chela's cramping thigh. Lareau was asked after the match if he suspected gamesmanship, but he categorically replied, "No. He really looked like he w as suffering, and if anyone was thrown off it was him, since he was serving. It's the first time I saw the server call for the trainer in that situation." When play resumed, the diminished Chela looked no better off for the treatment, and the match was over two points later. A forehand Lareau volley set up match point, and the crowd chanted "Break! Break! Break!" for the umpteenth time this weekend. When Chela netted a backhand passing shot, a happy Lareau had clinched a 3 points to 1 victory for Cana da in the tie, and was mobbed by his happy team mates and saluted by the roaring hometown crowd. Make the final: 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4

A beaming Lareau told reporters this was one of the biggest wins of his career, rivalling his upset win over Krajicek in Montreal last summer. "It was a magic moment, a special moment. The crowd was fantastic, you could feel them at every changeover. They really helped me win that fifth set." As for Chela, betrayed by cramps with the match in his control, it was a courageous comeback try from two sets down. Despite the crushing disappointment, it was also nice to see him slowly get his timing on the fast courts and finally show the talent that has propelled him into the top 50 in his first full season on tour. Juan Ignacio will have a lot more hard court practice in the weeks to come, after having played almost exclusively on clay this year. "I'll be playing Toronto, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Long Island and the U.S. Open."

Oh yes, the dead rubber....

Nestor thus concludes a fine weekend which saw him participate in 3 of Canada's 4 points. Calleri, so impressive in his resounding win over Lareau two days ago, seemed in a hurry to get it over with. If he played like a man with a plane to catch, it's probably because he did. Agustin will be playing in Kitzbuehel (Austria) next week!

We should note that this was the final match in Louis Cayer's seven-year tenure as Canada's Davis Cup captain, as he has announced his resignation. He turns the reins over to Grant Connell, the doubles ace who retired two years ago. Cayer's final mission on the international scene will be as leader of Canada's Olympic delegation in Sydney later this year. He then will return to coaching and teaching the game, where he hopes to help develop the Canadian talent which has been cruelly lacking in men's ten nis since the Lareau-Nestor-Rusedski (yes, Rusedski!) trio came on the scene in the mid-90s.

Cayer can be pleased at having left Canada in Group One with a win over one of the world's top tennis nations. When it was suggested that he beat a country that came without its best players (Puerta, Zabaleta, Gaudio and company were playing tour events in Europe this week), Cayer disagreed. "An Argentine journalist told me Calleri is their best hard court player. Chela is ranked 47th, and they brought their best doubles players. We beat a strong team. Canada is a good hard court country and we playe d that to our advantage."

Argentina, somewhat ignominiously for a country with so many fine players, now must beat the loser of the Bahamas-Colombia tie in order to remain in Group One (Bahamas was leading 2-1 at last report). We trust they will do so, as this is a World Group team and they will hopefully be at the top level of Davis Cup competition, where they belong, in 2002.