Thanasi Kokkinakis recorded the most important win of his Davis Cup profession to assist Australia file a 2-1 victory towards France in Spain.
Valencia, Spain, 11 September 2024 | Leigh Rogers
The Australian staff has made a successful begin within the group stage of the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.
The Aussies scored a hard-fought 2-1 victory right now towards France within the Spanish metropolis of Valencia, triumphing in an exhilarating tie that culminated in a high-pressure doubles rubber.
Thanasi Kokkinakis offered Australia with the right begin, scoring the most important win of his Davis Cup profession towards world No.25 Arthur Fils.
The world No.78 posted a 7-6(4) 7-6(3) victory towards the 20-year-old Frenchman, combating again from a 2-4 deficit within the second set to file a primary top-30 win within the prestigious staff competitors.
“Arthur is a good participant, he’s going to be main the French staff for some time, so I knew it was a troublesome problem,” Kokkinakis stated. “I simply tried to hold in there and I feel I performed regular on the large moments. There wasn’t a lot in it.”
Kokkinakis seals the primary match of the tie 🙌
🇦🇺 Australia 1 – 0 France 🇫🇷#DavisCup | @TKokkinakis pic.twitter.com/6Y321aPaEb
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) September 10, 2024
Kokkinakis was a late addition to the Australian staff this week, changing an injured Alex de Minaur.
“Clearly we’ve obtained a number of choices and nice depth in the intervening time, so I nonetheless wasn’t certain if I’d get the call-up,” the 28-year-old stated. “I’m comfortable that Lleyton trusted me to go in there and do the job.”
Kokkinakis revealed he was impressed to supply his finest tennis for world No.11 De Minaur, who has been the staff’s chief in recent times.
“We needed to strive put up a few wins for him,” Kokkinakis stated. “He’s injured and might’t play, however remains to be right here supporting. It’s good to have him right here, even when it’s simply on the sidelines.”
France’s No.1 Ugo Humbert did his finest to spoil Australia’s probabilities, powering to a 6-3 6-2 victory towards Alexei Popyrin to stage the tie at one apiece.
Stepping up into the Australian No.1 place for the primary time in his profession, world No.24 Popyrin was overpowered by his French opponent.
“He performed some impressed tennis and didn’t let me into the match,” a dissatisfied Popyrin stated. “I felt like he was studying each single serve. Whether or not I slowed it down or sped it up, he was on it. If you play somebody like that, who’s portray the strains and studying your weapons, it’s fairly tough.”
World No.18 Humbert struck 16 winners to Popyrin’s 5 throughout their 71-minute encounter.
It meant that for the third yr in a row, a deciding doubles rubber was wanted to find out the winner of those two groups in a group-stage assembly on the Davis Cup Finals.
And for the third consecutive yr, it was Ebden and Purcell who teamed as much as safe an Australian victory.
World No.5 Ebden and world No.8 Purcell dealt with the strain with aplomb to triumph 7-5 5-7 6-3 towards skilled Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
There have been some nervous moments when the French mixture saved a match level after which reeled off three consecutive video games to safe the second set, nonetheless Ebden and Purcell fought again to shut out victory in two hours and quarter-hour.
“We have been unfortunate to not get the second [set], however we knew we simply needed to reset and play one other good set,” Ebden stated.
This improves 36-year-old Ebden and 26-year-old Purcell’s Davis Cup staff file to seven wins from their eight matches collectively.
https://twitter.com/DavisCup/standing/1833610916673568916
The Australian staff wants to complete among the many top-two nations in Group B this week to advance to the knockout stage of the finals in November.
| 2024 Davis Cup Finals Group B standings |
|||
| Nation | Ties received | Ties misplaced | Matches W-L |
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 2-1 |
| France | 0 | 1 | 1-2 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
| Spain | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
Australia performs the Czech Republic in its subsequent round-robin tie (from 12am AEST Friday 13 September).
2024 Davis Cup Finals, group stage
AUSTRALIA d FRANCE 2-1
Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d Arthur Fils (FRA) 7-6(4) 7-6(3)
Ugo Humbert (FRA) d Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 6-3 6-2
Matt Ebden/Max Purcell (AUS) d Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 7-5 5-7 6-3
> READ: Australian tennis returns to glory years with 45-year first
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