Australia’s Matthew Ebden, right, and Jordan Thompson celebrate a point during their match against Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton of the United States during their doubles tennis quarterfinal Davis Cup match at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Thursday (November 21, 2024).
| Photo Credit: AP
Australia reached the Davis Cup semifinals for the third consecutive year, eliminating the United States 2-1 when Matt Ebden and Jordan Thompson beat the surprise, last-minute pairing of Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-4 in the deciding doubles match on Thursday (November 21, 2024).
The victory on an indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain means 28-time Davis Cup champion Australia will face defending champion Italy or Argentina on Saturday (November 23, 2024) for a spot in the final of the annual team competition.
The other semifinal, to be contested Friday (November 22, 2024), is the Netherlands against Germany. The Dutch got past Rafael Nadal and Spain in the quarterfinals earlier in the week, sending the 22-time Grand Slam champion into retirement.
The Australians were the runners-up the past two years, including in 2023 against Italy, which is led by No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner.
The Americans own a record 32 Davis Cup titles but haven’t been to the semifinals since 2018 and haven’t claimed the title since 2007, their longest drought in the event.
The Shelton-Paul substitution for Paris Olympics silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram was announced about 15 minutes before the doubles match began. Ebden and John Peers beat Krajicek and Ram in the Summer Games final in August.
The Australians broke once in each set of the doubles. In the second, they stole one of Shelton’s service games on the fourth break opportunity when Ebden’s overhead smash made it 5-4. Thompson then served out the victory, closing it with a service winner before chest-bumping Ebden.
The 21st-ranked Shelton made his Davis Cup debut earlier Thursday (November 21, 2024) in singles against 77th-ranked Thanasi Kokkinakis, who emerged from a tight-as-can-be tiebreaker by saving four match points and eventually converting his seventh to win 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (14).
No. 4 Taylor Fritz, the U.S. Open runner-up, then pulled the Americans even with a far more straightforward victory over No. 9 Alex de Minaur, 6-3,…