In front of a near-capacity crowd, Argentina has scored the biggest upset of the United Cup so far with a 2-1 victory over Australia, leaving the home nation on the brink of elimination.
Argentina started strongly with Nadia Podoroska beating Olivia Gadecki in the first match of the tie. Although the favourite by ranking, Gadecki, world No.97, never looked comfortable against the relentlessness of Podoroska’s strokes, committing 34 unforced errors to fall 6-2 6-4 in 98 minutes.
Faced with a must-win encounter, de Minaur came out guns blazing against Tomás Martín Etcheverry, who won their only previous meeting at Roland Garros last year. The Australian, returning to his favourite court as a top-10 player, did not face a break point all match as Etcheverry struggled to read his much-improved serve.
As the match progressed, de Minaur only became more comfortable, looking a class above the Argentine, who could only force seven winners in the entire match. The Australian was assured from the baseline and at the net, winning some exhilarating rallies from uncomfortable positions as Etcheverry could only look on as the three-time Newcombe medalist secured a 6-1 6-4 win.
"It's definitely the best I've felt since Wimbledon," said de Minaur, who has struggled with a hip injury for the past six months. "Very happy with how the body is moving, how it's feeling. It's been a long time coming, but it's feeling in the best shape it has been in a very, very long time."
For the mixed doubles, captain Horacio de la Pena sprung a surprise, substituting María Lourdes Carlé for the in-form Podoroska to partner Etcheverry. However, the move proved to be an inspired one as the pair combined beautifully to take advantage of a listless start from the established Australian combination of Matthew Ebden and Ellen Perez.
Etcheverry targeted Perez early in the match with blistering forehands before Carlé, who only arrived in Australia yesterday, came into her own. By contrast, reigning gold medalist Ebden was well short of his best, missing several regulation volleys and crucial returns in the second set.
While the Australians were behind for most of the match, they manufactured four break points on Carlé’s serve at the end of the second set, but some uncharacteristic errors meant that they squandered them all. A short while later, Etcheverry had no trouble serving out the tie, much to the delight of the boisterous legion of Argentinian fans in attendance.
"The Argentinians executed what they wanted to," Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt said. "Our guys probably weren't quite as sharp just on those 50/50 points where we had opportunities."
Argentinian captain de la Pena, who has made a name for himself with his passionate leadership, was overjoyed at the performance of his team.
"We knew that we were facing one of the best teams where we had a very small chance of winning, and like every star aligned," he said.
"The girls did great, and that told me we were able to come back from a very difficult loss because [Etcheverry] didn't play bad at all, but de Minaur was incredible today. He played super tennis.
"When that finished, we had to make a decision if [Etcheverry was to] face again another very difficult match or put the doubles guy. He said: 'I want to take the responsibility. I want to turn this thing around', and he did it great. I'm very proud of that."
De la Pena also revealed that it was a tactical decision to play Etcheverry, especially against two doubles specialists.
"Mixed doubles is not a doubles. It's a mixed doubles. It's a lot more closer than a singles than a doubles," he explained.
"If you are the best of the four guys, you can win your service game like he did in the last game, a very important game. He served it out. He had a lot of power. He is big. He covers a lot of court.
"It's a lot easier to play from the baseline in mixed doubles than to play up front because the net is a lot weaker when it's a guy and a girl. So I told him: 'Let's go and make it'.
"Because we were playing a very good team, two guys that have played super tennis, super doubles, we had to play around with a lot of different tactics to try to get him off position."
In the post-match press conference, Etcheverry and Carlé revealed that, although they have not played mixed doubles on the professional tour together, they have known each other since they were young children.
"We played under 12, under 10, under 8," Etcheverry said. "All the chapters together. It's really special for us to share the court in this amazing stadium and with all the people around.
"So many trips together," Carlé added. "I think he's one year older than me, so we basically played the same tournaments.
"We used to travel together with our federation. We know each other since a while. Now he's way bigger, taller, and [he's grown], but he's still the same."
After losing both the women’s singles and mixed doubles in straight sets, the Australians will need to win all three rubbers against Great Britain to have any chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals. Hewitt was bullish about the team’s chances, focussing on ensuring the team was well-prepared for the significant challenge ahead.
"We'll give ourselves every chance. All we can do is prepare as well as possible," said Hewitt. "We have three days off now as well, so it's really just trying to prepare. Recover first and they then start preparing for the next match against Great Britain and see what happens."
While Australia must wait three days until their match against Great Britain on New Year’s Day, Argentina will look to seal their qualification against Great Britain tomorrow.
De la Pena encouraged the strong Argentinian contingent who attended the match to ensure they came back for what will be a critical tie.
"If they're not planning on coming back, we want to invite them. We need them. They were great. They really support us, and they made us feel like locals. So we're really grateful for that. That's something that is very Argentinian."
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