Australia have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, despite suffering defeat to Germany in the final tie of Group C.
“The goal was to qualify here and the boys did extremely well this week,” Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt said.
“I’m really proud of all the guys and the whole team. They prepared and did everything they needed to get the result we were after and we’ve given ourselves a chance, which is what we came here to do. It’s nice to be through to the quarters.”
In the first rubber of the tie, Max Purcell was called up to make his Davis Cup singles debut for Australia but unfortunately suffered a 1-6, 5-7 defeat to the more experienced Jan-Lennard Struff.
Thanasi Kokkinakis got Australia back on level terms after taking down Oscar Otte 7-6(6), 6-1 in the second rubber, keeping Australia alive in the tie.
“I’m happy I could get a win for the team,” Kokkinakis said post-match.
In the final rubber of the tie, the M&M's - Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell took on German pair Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.
The Aussies fought hard but went down 4-6, 4-6 to the experienced pair.
The result saw Australia drop to second place in Group C, but still advance to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, where they will now face the winners of Group D - the Netherlands, on November 23 in Malaga.
“Any match is going to be extremely tough, and they obviously came through their group with flying colours,” Hewitt said.
“So, we’ll have our work cut out, but we’ll prepare as well as possible. It will be a massive goal for our guys to be playing well come middle of November.”
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