Australia have come from behind to secure an outstanding win, defeating France in their second tie in Group C of the Davis Cup Finals.
After Jason Kubler went down in the opening match of the tie, Alex de Minaur survived a battle to defeat Benjamin Bonzi, before reigning Wimbledon champions Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell claimed an impressive 6-4 6-4 victory over French duo Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech in the deciding rubber to seal the tie for Australia.
"These moments are what it’s all about, being able to perform under pressure,” Ebden said post-match.
“It was a big team effort and great to finish on top.”
In the first rubber of the tie, Australia's Jason Kubler fought hard but went down 2-6, 4-6 to the experienced 36-year-old Richard Gasquet, in a battle that was tighter than the scoreline suggested.
“I’ll look back and learn from my mistakes," Kubler said post-match.
“Unfortunately I didn’t execute the way I wanted to do today."
In the second rubber of the tie, Australia's No. 1 Alex de Minaur survived an epic battle and came back from a break down in the deciding set to defeat Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in two hours, levelling the tie for the Green and Gold.
“I’m very happy to get a win for my country,” de Minaur said post-match.
“And the end of the day that’s all that matters, it doesn’t matter how you play, how you do it, as long as you find a way to get a win. That was my job today and I was happy I was able to do that.”
“I just kept telling myself to stay in there, hang around and I was going to have more chances,” De Minaur said.
“It’s Davis Cup anything can happen. When you play with passion and heart, there’s always a chance.”
With the win over France, Australia sit on top of the group standings in Group C, and are in a strong position to advance to the knockout stages of the Finals in November.
“I’m really proud of the whole team again today,” said Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt post-match.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, certainly after [France’s] tight loss yesterday. We knew they were going to throw everything at us today and they did just that. All three matches were extremely tough.”
Australia will now come up against Germany in their final round-robin match on Sunday.
Comments