Australia sit on top of their Davis Cup group after rolling the Czech Republic 3-0 in their tie in Valencia.
Thanasi Kokkinakis, in the team covering an injured Alex de Minaur, continued his hot form to defeat Jakub Mensik 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3.
Alexei Popyrin was gifted the win in the second singles rubber after Tomas Machac retired after just nine points – his second retirement in as many days – before Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell beat Mensik and Adam Pavlasek 6-4, 6-2 in the doubles rubber.
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“To step up and get two points on the board is massive,” Kokkinakis told daviscup.com. He’d beaten Arthur Fils 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in Australia’s first up win over against France.
“Big up to Lleyton (Hewitt, Australian team captain) for trusting me and giving me the run. All of us could have played, that’s the beauty of tennis in Australia right now, we’re all having great years.”
Hewitt said it was “a perfect day”.
“Thanasi was fantastic in the first match. It was how he responded when challenged, which was so impressive to me,” he said.
“Really proud of his effort; fantastic to back up from a couple of days ago as well. That’s going to give him the world of belief in himself.
“Pop [Alexei Popyrin] was ready to go, but didn’t get much of a chance. We’ll certainly take it though.
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“We know how important in this situation and this format it is to try and win 3-0, so we certainly weren’t letting up.”
What had seemed to be simply cramps when he retired against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday morning (AEST) proved more serious and long-lasting as Machac played just nine points in his match with Popyrin.
Machac was playing with bandages around his right calf and called for a medical timeout after Popyrin held serve in the first game, before retiring at 30-15 down in the second.
“We saw him last night, and he didn’t look too good last night, so we wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully he’s back on tour quickly,” Popyrin said.
Elsewhere, Canada and Germany both swept Finland and Chile 3-0 respectively.
Denis Shapovalov beat Eero Vasa 7-6(2), 6-2 and Felix Auger-Aliassime followed up with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Otto Virtanen for the 2022 Davis Cup champions in Manchester.
Four groups of teams are playing in four cities this week to qualify for the eight-team Finals in Malaga, Spain, in November. The top two countries in each four-team group advance.
Australia are in prime position to advance through to the next stage, and will take on a Spanish side boasting Carlos Alcaraz, Marcel Granollers and Roberto Bautista Agut on Sunday evening (AEST).
– With AP