Australia has been eliminated from the United Cup, despite a dominant victory by Alex de Minaur which contributed to a 2-1 victory over Great Britain.
However, Australia’s loss to Argentina earlier in the tournament and Great Britain’s win over the Argentines meant it wasn’t enough for the Aussies to progress, falling only five games short of securing the 'lucky loser' position into the quarter-finals.
Katie Boulter immediately put Australia on the back foot with a comfortable victory over Olivia Gadecki, as the No.1 female Aussie never looked comfortable in the match, with only one break point opportunity as Boulter dominated with 22 winners compared to Gadecki’s four.
"I was really happy the way that I managed to bring some of my best tennis," said Boulter. "Even though I wasn't feeling amazing out on the court, I felt better in my first match. You can never sleep on her. She's such a good player. I know what she's capable of, and I know how good she's also going to be. She's got a great ball strike. She can come back at any moment."
Needing to win by the biggest margin possible, Alex de Minaur put on a stunning display of shotmaking to beat Billy Harris 6-2 6-1.
Fuelled by a superb serving display where he hit speeds up to 213kph, de Minaur ensured that Harris had no chances to stake a foothold in the match. Harris was erratic with 30 unforced errors, but de Minaur’s fantastic 71 per cent break point conversion meant he kept Australia in the tie in front of a sold-out crowd at Ken Rosewall Arena.
"Last year I struggled with an injury that sidelined me and took away one of my biggest assets, which was my movement," said de Minaur. "It took me a very long time to get back.
"It was safe to say that it had been a long time since I felt my feet moving as quickly as they did today and doing all of that without pain. It was a really good feeling. So [it] kind of gave me some goosebumps because it felt good to finally be back at that level."
De Minaur’s opponent was also highly complimentary of the Australian’s performance.
"He was just so consistent throughout the match, and you have to play great points to win any points against him," said Harris. "His speed around the court and consistency, I thought he played a good match. In the end, I couldn't keep up with it."
With Australia only being able to afford to lose four games in the mixed doubles, a huge surprise was sprung, with de Minaur and Gadecki replacing doubles specialists Matthew Ebden and Ellen Perez.
The recent decision of the US in the Davis Cup against Australia to do a similar thing loomed large, and while the pair took the tie 6-3 7-6 against Charlie Broom and Olivia Nicholls, they struggled on de Minaur’s service games, with Gadecki missing several critical volleys.
When asked in the post-match press conference about his decision to substitute Gadecki and de Minaur into the doubles, Hewitt suggested the decision was tactical and concerned the number of games needed to qualify.
"I guess you saw how well Alex played the last couple of matches," he said. "I feel like the way he was hitting the ball, he deserved the opportunity to have it on his racquet knowing that we could only afford to lose a few games out there.
"Going out there and playing in front of that crowd on Ken Rosewall Arena as well, it's something he deserved to go out there and get another opportunity. I thought the matchup with him playing with Liv was our best matchup to try and lose as least amount of games as possible."
Broom was also not surprised to see de Minaur and Gadecki put forward.
"I mean, they have so many good doubles players," he said. "Obviously world class. I think they could have played a number of options. I think you've got to be ready for anything.
"They played great. I thought they were full of energy. The crowd helped them out as well. It was pretty cool to play against them, and obviously pleased that we're through to the quarters."
Earlier in the day, Poland notched up a tight 2-1 victory over Czechia, with Iga Świątek and Tomáš Macháč winning the singles rubbers before the former combined with Hubert Hurkacz to take the decisive mixed doubles rubber.
While this meant Poland immediately qualified for the quarter-finals, the tie score between Australia and Great Britain meant that Czechia also qualified as the best runner-up.
With Świątek and Hurkacz combining well in mixed doubles, the five-time major winner is confident that they will be ready in the quarter-finals should a decisive mixed doubles match be required.
"[A] couple of years ago I always thought that doubles is kind of like -- I didn't get it," said Świątek. "I didn't feel like I [had] control of our stuff. So I was, like, okay, this may happen, this may happen."
But now with Hubi, I feel [we] really can push, and we have such a strong game that, as you could see, we can even break the other guys serving. So I feel like we are for sure ready every game, and we showed that."
Poland will play Great Britain tomorrow in the quarter-finals before Italy face Czechia in a blockbuster clash on Friday.
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