Australia's hopes of reaching the United Cup knockout stage for the second straight year have vanished after a controversial decision grabbed headlines.
Heading into the tie against Great Britain to round out Group F, a 3-0 clean sweep would have sealed Australia's fate as group winners, but a 2-1 victory had even the best mathematicians scratching their heads.
After Olivia Gadecki's 6-2 6-1 loss to Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur's 6-2 6-1 triumph over Billy Harris, the green and gold could only afford to drop four games or win one set 7-5 and the other 6-0 in the doubles decider to overtake Czechia as the best second-placed runner-up in Sydney.
Instead of opting for doubles specialists Matthew Ebden and Ellen Perez, the singles combination of de Minaur and Gadecki took to the court and claimed a 6-3 7-6(3) win, but it wasn't enough to progress.
Ebden, ATP doubles world No.13, and Perez, WTA doubles world No.13, were overlooked. Four days prior, the pair suffered a shock straight-sets defeat to Argentina in the mixed doubles decider.
Although de Minaur is the one who makes the final decisions with team captain Lleyton Hewitt around to offer support and advice, the former world No.1 explained the move.
"I guess you saw how well Alex played the last couple of matches," Hewitt 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."
Social media were left divided by the decision, with one fan writing on Instagram: "This is such a slap in the face to Perez."
"They should have played Perez, not a good choice in my opinion," another comment read.
"Given the opposition doubles team they should have played Perez and Ebden," a further comment argued.
However, there were those on the opposite side of the fence.
"The right decision has been made," argued one fan on Facebook.
Another fan put into perspective the challenging task at hand, writing: "Well that was a tough scenario to pull off... drop no more than four games to get through to the quarters! Not even those two could do that!"
A current Newcombe medalist and two-time doubles Grand Slam champion, Ebden had come off arguably the best season of his career after winning gold at the Paris Olympics with partner John Peers and winning the 2024 Australian Open doubles crown.
Perez, a dual doubles Grand Slam semi-finalist, appeared in back-to-back WTA Finals where she reached the final in 2023 and achieved a career-high ranking of No.7.
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