MALAGA (Reuters) – Australia set up a Davis Cup semi-final clash with defending champions Italy as doubles pair Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson sealed victory against the United States on Thursday.
Olympic champion Ebden and Thompson beat surprise pairing Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton 6-4 6-4 to put Lleyton Hewitt’s side into their third successive semi-final of the men’s team event.
They will now have the opportunity to avenge last year’s final defeat by Italy after world number one Jannik Sinner inspired the holders to a 2-1 victory over Argentina.
The U.S. were slight favourites going into a battle between the two most successful nations in the competition’s history, but Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis beat debutant Shelton 6-1 4-6 7-6(14) in the opening singles after saving four match points.
World number four Taylor Fritz then levelled it up with a 6-3 6-4 defeat of Alex de Minaur to send the tie to the doubles.
American captain Bob Bryan sprung a surprise as he opted against sending out Olympic runners-up Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek and instead gambled on Shelton and Paul to try and get the 32-times champions to their first semi-final since 2018.
But his plan backfired as Ebden and U.S. Open winner Thompson’s greater doubles craft proved decisive.
“As a captain you have to make tough decisions. This wasn’t a black-and-white decision. It was razor-thin edge and we went with it,” Bryan said.
After Italy’s women claimed the Billie Jean King Cup title in Malaga on Wednesday, the country’s men will now be favourites to make it a momentous double for the nation.
Sinner, who won two of the year’s four Grand Slams and the ATP Finals last week, was under pressure after Francisco Cerundolo gave Argentina the lead with a 6-4 6-1 defeat of Lorenzo Musetti. But he responded with a crushing 6-2 6-1 defeat of Sebastian Baez before returning to court inside the Martin Carpena Arena to join forces with Matteo Berrettini.
The classy Italian duo turned up the heat to overpower Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4 7-5 and spark noisy celebrations from their team mates and fans.
Italy will be favourites against Australia in Saturday’s semi-final but Hewitt’s team, beaten in the last two finals, will be up for the fight.
“We have such a rich history in this competition and these boys know it’s a great honour to wear the green and gold out there,” former world number one Hewitt said.
“We’ve had a very similar team of around six guys who have put their hand up for three or four years now, they have gelled together well, super proud of the whole team.”
Hewitt said he had been confident that world number 77 Kokkinakis, who often saves his best for Davis Cup ties, would rise to the occasion against 21st-ranked Shelton.
And so it proved as he won a thriller. He outplayed Shelton in the first set, but the powerful young American responded impressively to win the second.
As serve began to dominate, the match inevitably went to a tiebreak which was the longest in the Davis Cup for five years.
Kokkinakis led 6-4 but Shelton saved two match points with booming serves and as the tension mounted both players saved match points against them by serving aces.
Shelton banged down successive aces to lead 14-13 but Kokkinakis was not done and reeled off three straight points to claim the win.
“Seeing the boys on the sidelines, seeing Lleyton, obviously an idol growing up, getting super fired up and in my ear keeping me going motivated, I think it’s massive,” Kokkinakis said.
Fritz repeated his win over De Minaur at the ATP Finals but Australia took full advantage of the Americans’ doubles switch.
Friday’s first semi-final features Spain’s conquerors the Netherlands up against Germany.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar)
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