Brothers Elias and Mikael Ymer comfortably won their singles rubbers against Canada as seven-time champions Sweden made a roaring start in the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid on Thursday.

Holders Spain’s hopes already look bleak, though, as rising force Carlos Alcaraz was ruled out on Thursday after testing positive for Covid-19.

Runners-up in 2019 but without their top players Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Canada proved no match for the rejuvenated Swedes, losing 0-3.

Australia made a poor start in Group D in Turin as they went down 0-3 to 2018 champions Croatia.