Australia, South Korea Advanced To Davis Cup Finals

Thanasi Kokkinakis, the Australian Open doubles champion, won a decisive singles rubber to help Australia advance to the next stage of the Davis Cup on Saturday, with South Korea defeating Austria to do the same.

Lleyton Hewitt’s Australians were tied 1-1 with Hungary on day two and facing an uphill battle after Fabian Marozsan and Mate Valkusz defeated John Peers and Luke Saville 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles.

To keep the match alive, world number 30 Alex de Minaur needed to beat Marton Fucsovics, who was ranked 35th, and he did so 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in front of a boisterous crowd at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena.

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After winning his first ATP singles title in Adelaide this year and then winning the Australian Open doubles title with Nick Kyrgios, Kokkinakis was recalled to the Davis Cup team for the first time in seven years.

He repaid skipper Hewitt’s faith with a gutsy 6-4, 6-4 win over young Hungarian number two Zsombor Piros with the tie on the line.

“Thank you Lleyton for believing in me; it’s been a long time since I’ve played and to be able to play a fifth rubber at home is incredible,” he said.

“We have immense pride, immense passion, and one thing you can count on from the Australian Davis Cup team is that we will never give up,” De Minaur added.

Kwon Soon-woo, the 65th-ranked player in the world, led South Korea to victory with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 victory over Austria’s 143rd-ranked Dennis Novak in Seoul.

They were also tied 1-1 going into day two, with Nam Ji-sung and Song Min-kyu defeating Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 6-4, 6-3 in doubles to give Kwon the platform he needed to close it out.
On Saturday, 12 Davis Cup ties will be decided, with the winners advancing to the finals, the first stage of which will be held in September at a yet-to-be-determined location with 16 teams.

Croatia, the United Kingdom, and Serbia have already qualified, with Davis Cup officials to decide next week who will replace defending champions Russia, who were dropped due to their involvement in the Ukraine invasion.

For the quarter-finals in November, the 16 will be reduced to eight.

Six-time champions Spain will go into their match against Romania in Marbella late Saturday with a 2-0 lead after Carlos Alcaraz, a teenager, and veteran Roberto Bautista Agut both won on day one.

In Pau, France took a 2-0 lead over Ecuador, and the Netherlands took a 2-0 lead over Canada in The Hague.

The United States, led by Taylor Fritz, and Argentina, led by Diego Schwartzman, have the same advantage in their matches against Colombia and the Czech Republic, respectively.

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However, the other matches are all tied at 1-1, with world number three German Alexander Zverev facing Brazilian Thiago Monteiro in a crucial match in Rio.

Casper Ruud, the world number eight, is also up against Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in Oslo as he tries to help Norway advance.