- Record victory for the green and gold losers over the United States
- Davis Cup captain Hewitt inspires shock victory
Inspired captaincy, a heartbreaking victory for Thanasi Kokkinakis and a good old-fashioned Australian doubles pedigree have led Australia to a surprising 2-1 victory over the United States and the Davis Cup semi-finals in Spain.
Lleyton Hewitt edged out his American counterpart Bob Bryan in the key captaincy calls of their quarter-final tie in Malaga on Thursday as 28-time winners Australia defeated the 32-time champions in the battle between the two most successful nations in the historic men’s World Cup. Tennis Cup’.
First, Hewitt opted for the bold choice of world number 77 Kokkinakis to open proceedings against big left-handed hitter Ben Shelton, ranked 56 places higher, and the Australian outsider triumphed after saving four match points to prevail in a epic decision. tiebreaker 6-1 4-6 7-6 (16-14).
Then, after Taylor Fritz defeated Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 1 matchup, Grand Slam doubles winners Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden teamed up for the first time in the Cup. and they defeated Shelton. and Tommy Paul 6-4 6-4 in the decisive match.
‘Incredible. When we went into half-time with four ties, I could have gone over the entire bench,” Thompson smiled. “I was wearing my heart on my sleeve, you know, bleeding green and gold.”
American captain Bryan had ditched his specialist doubles pair, Olympic silver medalists Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek, attempting to shake up the Australians by releasing two of their singles stars, but the move backfired spectacularly.
Thanasi Kokkinakis appears slumped on the court as he celebrates his thrilling victory over American Ben Shelton after saving four match points in a tiebreaker.
Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt (pictured with Kokkinakis after his singles win) took a big risk with his selections, and it turned out to be a genius move.
Hewitt (pictured during the win over the USA) resorted to an American tactic earlier in the week and made sure it backfired.
“We were expecting to catch the Aussies a little by surprise,” sighed Bryan, to which Hewitt replied: “To be honest, we weren’t too surprised… I’d seen them doing exercises during the week.” ‘
This put Australia one win away from a third consecutive final appearance after two second-place finishes, but they will have to defeat champions Italy or Argentina on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) to have another chance of lifting the Cup for the first time. in 21 years on Sunday (Monday AEDT).
‘I don’t know if I’ve ever been so excited in my life. I wanted that for my team,” said Kokkinakis, after finally prevailing on his seventh match point in the 30-point marathon.
“It could have been anything, but I stayed calm.”
Hewitt felt it had not been a gamble to play Kokkinakis, even though he had only played one lower-level Challenger in Sydney and one Laver Cup singles loss in the two months since two big Cup playoff wins. Davis in Valencia.
Much higher-ranked Montreal Masters winner Alexei Popyrin and Thompson were overlooked, and Hewitt smiled: ‘He (Kokkinakis) played like the winner of the New South Wales Open Challenger about a month ago!’
“Obviously, it’s never easy to make these decisions, but we know that if we can get him to go out and play at his highest level, it’s dangerous for anyone, I don’t care who it is.” I had complete faith in him.
“We put him on ice, practically until now, and today we released him, and he paid us in full.”
His belief amply rewarded, Hewitt pushed a disappointingly flat De Minaur to second singles for a rematch with world No. 4 Fritz, who had just edged him in the ATP Finals the week before.
The key moment came when Bryan revealed his doubles change 15 minutes before they took the court.
“We were expecting the other pair and we knew they had incredible players who can play doubles, so we were prepared,” said Ebden, who, like Thompson, won Grand Slam doubles, but both with a different partner, Purcell, who was cheering on the court after recent injuries. ‘What a day!…’