Davis Cup: Australia defeats Czech Republic in quarter-final

Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt lauded the “pride and passion” of his team after a spirited Alex de Minaur rescue mission laid the platform for a quarter-final takedown of the Czech Republic in Malaga to keep hopes of ending a 20-year Davis Cup title drought alive.

Looking to go one better than 2022 when Hewitt’s team were beaten in the final by Canada, Aussie No.1 de Minaur came from a set down to win the second singles rubber after Jordan Thompson lost the first in straight sets in the quarter-final clash.

Then doubles stars Matt Ebden and Max Purcell continued their stunning run as a combination to secure a 6-4, 7-5 victory in the deciding match and secure Australia passage to a semi-final showdown with Finland.

Ebden and Purcell, the Wimbledon champions, have now won six of their seven Davis Cup rubbers together, including three victories in an unbeaten week in Manchester in September that helped propel Australia to the finals in Spain.

“So proud. Pride and passion, that’s what it’s all about,” Hewitt said after the victory.

“The team spirit and camaraderie, everyone has got each other’s back and it was a hell of an effort from the boys to find something extra today.”

Hewitt gave special credit to his doubles team who had to watch de Minaur’s fightback before knowing what they were playing for.

“Riding the ups and downs of the first two matches not knowing if they were coming out or not, then putting on a clinic, that was bloody impressive,” he said.

Knowing he had to defeat world No.31 Jiri Lehecka to keep Australia’s hopes alive after Thompson’s loss to Jiri Lehecka, de Minaur lost the opening set that took him to the “dark places” he said players could go in matches.

But he went to the well, and his never-give-up reputation, to secure the second set in a tie-break and then a nail-biting third set in the 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 triumph to level the tie before his reliable doubles crew sealed the deal.

“I don’t know,” an exhausted de Minaur said when asked on court how he’d prevailed in the two-and-a-half-hour tussle.

“Ultimately, it’s always going to be tough. You’re always going to be in a very dark places in matches, but maybe I’ve got that reputation of never giving up and I’m competing to the end.

“I think it would have been quite easy for me to roll over in the circumstances, but that’s just not the type of player I am.

“I have had plenty of these types of matches in my career. It’s part of my identity. I’m not going to give up. I’m going to fight until the end.”

Ebden said he and Purcell knew they had to fire after de Minaur’s stirring comeback.

“I’ve never seen anything like it live,” he said.

“I’ve seen comebacks like that on TV back in the day … but what Alex did, to give us the chance to come out and fight for the win was incredible.

“We thought we were one game away from being out of here. To stand here winning and going to the semi-finals, it’s a signal of our team spirit and fighting culture.”

Earlier, Thompson, who was picked by Hewitt ahead of late-call up Alexei Popyrin to open the tie, was a straight sets loser to 23-year-old Tomas Machac, going down 6-4, 7-5, demanding the recovery from his teammates.

Australia lost last year’s final, continuing a 20-year Davis Cup winning drought.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ70qmmq6xfqbKvusisZpqkla16pbGMpqCnmaWneqK6w2abqK2SobK0ecKopJunXaiypMHRnmSaraOpv6K4yJpkr6GTqbyzxYyipWaroJa2r3vNnq6sZaOpvLPFjmtob5pmlrGkssCcnWuZkWaGpa7CnJ1ycWRqhHZ9kHBw