Canada surprises top-ranked Spain on first day of Davis Cup at UBC

Milos Raonic and Frank Dancevic both posted singles victories today, giving Canada a 2-0 lead over powerhouse Spain in Davis Cup tennis action at UBC.

Raonic beat Albert Ramos 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to give Canada a leg up in the best-of-five competition.

Perhaps inspired by his teammate and possibly feeling less pressure because of the Raonic win, Dancevic sent the 6,012 flag-waving spectators into a frenzy with what what he called "one of the best matches of my life", downing Marcel Granollers, the 34th ranked player in the world, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Canada has never advanced beyond the opening round of the Davis Cup, but now needs just one win from the remaining three matches. Tomorrow features one doubles match with Canadian veteran Daniel Nestor and Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil taking on Granollers and Marc Lopez at 1 p.m. Sunday is reverse singles with Raonic scheduled to face Granollers, and Dancevic set to take on Ramos.

Spain is the top seed in the annual international competition. However, its lineup is missing the star power of world number four David Ferrer, number five Rafael Nadal, and number 11 Nicolas Almagro.