Kokkinakis saves four match points before Ebden and Thompson combine for doubles success as Australian defeats USA in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
Malaga,Spain, 22 November 2024 | AAP
Inspired captaincy, a nerve-shredding underdog’s win for Thanasi Kokkinakis and good old-fashioned Australian doubles pedigree has powered Australia to a shock 2-1 win over the USA and into the semifinals of the Davis Cup in Spain.
Lleyton Hewitt outduelled his American counterpart Bob Bryan in the key captaincy calls of their quarterfinal tie in Malaga on Thursday as 28-times winners Australia defeated the 32-time champs in the battle between the two most successful nations in the historic men’s ‘World Cup of tennis’.
First, Hewitt plumped for the daring choice of world No.77 Kokkinakis to open proceedings against big-hitting left-hander Ben Shelton, ranked 56 places higher, and the Aussie outsider came up trumps after saving four match points to prevail in an epic deciding tiebreaker 6-1 4-6 7-6 (14).
Then, after Alex de Minaur fell in straight sets to Taylor Fritz in the No.1s’ duel, it was down to doubles Grand Slam winners Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden to team up for the first time in the Cup and defeat Shelton and Tommy Paul 6-4 6-4 in the deciding rubber.
Chest bumping into the semis 🔥🇦🇺#DavisCup | @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/VL5EbFM8eq
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) November 21, 2024
“Incredible. When we got the break there at four-all, I could have run over the top of the whole bench,” beamed Thompson. “I was wearing my heart on my sleeve, you know, bleeding green and gold.”
The American skipper Bryan had ditched his specialist doubles pair, Olympic silver nedallists Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek, trying to shake up the Aussies by unleashing two of his singles stars – but the decision backfired spectacularly.
“We were hoping to catch the Aussies a little bit by surprise,” sighed Bryan, to which Hewitt countered: “It didn’t surprise us that much, to be honest … I’d seen them do drills during the week.”
It put Australia one triumph away from a third-straight final appearance after two runner’s-up finishes, but they’ll have to topple either champions Italy or Argentina on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) to earn another crack at lifting the Cup for the first time in 21 years on Sunday (Monday AEDT).
“I don’t know if I’ve been that pumped up in my life. I wanted that for my team,” said…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Tennis.com.au – Tennis Australia…