Australia complete comeback to reach Davis Cup semis

Author Photo
LleytonHewitt - Cropped

Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt both prevailed in their singles matches on Sunday to seal a remarkable comeback victory for Australia against Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup.

The duo proved the heroes once again, defeating Mikhail Kukushkin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov respectively to set up a semi-final meeting with either Great Britain or France.

Australia had fallen 2-0 behind in the contest after Kukushkin and Nedovyesov defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios in the opening two singles matches.

But Groth and Hewitt combined to keep Australia's hopes alive in the doubles on Saturday and finished the job - this time separately - 24 hours later.

As the first of the two men on court, the pressure was on Groth to level the contest and the world number 68 delivered, defeating Kukushkin 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 7-6 (8-6).

That left Hewitt with the chance to complete the comeback and the two-time major winner put in an assured performance.

After squandering a 4-1 lead in the opening set, Hewitt recovered his poise to take the tie-break, before breaking Nedovyesov twice in each of the next two sets to seal a 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-3 victory, before being mobbed by his team-mates in celebration on the court.

 

Author(s)
Sporting News Photo

The sports world explained. The Sporting News goes beyond the score to deliver the news, data, insights and entertainment that sports fans around the globe need to know.