Australia beat USA to reach semi-finals in Davis Cup

MALAGA – Australia reached Davis Cup advanced to the semi-finals for the third consecutive time and defeated the USA 2-1. Matt Ebden In Thursday’s doubles match, Jordan Thompson defeated the surprise last-minute pairing of Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul, 6-4, 6-4.

The victory on the indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain means 28-time Davis Cup champions Australia will face defending champions Italy or Argentina on Saturday for a place in the final of the annual team competition is coming.

The other semi-final to be played on Friday will be played between the Netherlands and Germany. dutch people We passed Rafael Nadal and Spain in the quarter finals at the beginning of the week 22-time Grand Slam champion to retirement.

The Australians have finished second in the last two years, including against Italy in 2023. Led by #1 Jannik Sinner.

The Americans have 32 Davis Cup titles but haven’t reached the semifinals since 2018 and haven’t won the title since 2007; this was the longest drought in the event.

Shelton-Paul’s substitution, replacing Paris Olympic silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, was announced about 15 minutes before the doubles match began. Ebden and John Peers defeated Krajicek and Ram in the Summer Games final in August.

The Australians were broken once in each doubles set. In the second, they stole one of Shelton’s service games on the fourth break opportunity, and Ebden’s header made it 5-4. Thompson then served out the victory, capping it off with a serve winner before slamming Ebden to the ribcage.

21st-ranked Shelton She made her Davis Cup debut early Thursday against 77th-seeded Thanasi Kokkinakis, who emerged from what was as tough a tiebreaker as it gets, saving four match points and eventually claiming her seventh point to win 6-1, 4-6, 7-. 6 (14).

#4 Taylor FritzUS Open runner-up then even pulled off the Americans with a much simpler victory over the 9th seed Alex de Minaur6-3, 6-4.

Kokkinakis withstood 21 aces from big-serve left-hander Shelton, who reached the US Open semifinals in 2023.

When their match finally ended, a long backhand from Shelton dropped Kokkinakis on his back and struck him in the chest. After standing up, he threw a ball into the stands, then walked towards Australia’s sideline, dunked his racket and shouted before hugging captain Lleyton Hewitt.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been this excited in my life. I wanted this for my team,” said Kokkinakis, who won the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles title with Nick Kyrgios. “It could have gone either way, but I stayed brave.”

One important statistic: Shelton finished his Davis Cup debut with 29 unforced errors; this was almost double the 15 errors made by Kokkinakis.

After a strong love hold in the opening game that featured a 139 mph (224 kph) ace and three service winners, Shelton completely lost his way, losing 12 of his next 16 service points in a row and six games in total. This set ended with Shelton making a double fault due to a foot fault.

But he broke back to open the second set and the match soon became much more competitive.

“Once I got going, I thought I found a really good rhythm,” Shelton said. “At the end of the match, I didn’t really like how I finished. I thought I left some on the table.”

Fritz won nine of his 10 service games against de Minaur and performed well, making a quick comeback after reaching the championship match. ATP Finals Sunday in Turin, Italy, before losing to Sinner.

Fritz flew to Spain the next day, then trained on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I’m really happy,” Fritz said, “with the way I kept it together.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis