By the time the Australia vs. Great Britain ATP Cup quarterfinal tie came to an end on Thursday evening in Sydney, what may go down as one of the best singles matches of the entire year had been reduced to a mere afterthought.
That’s just how wild things were for the majority of this inaugural event’s first quarterfinal.
It started, however, in routine fashion–not exactly a common occurrence when Nick Kyrgios is involved. The 29th-ranked Australian rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Cameron Norrie in one hour and 12 minutes to give the host nation a quick 1-0 lead.
The second rubber between Alex de Minaur and Dan Evans lasted almost three times as long. An incredibly dramatic, high-quality contest required three hours and 23 minutes to separate the two in-form competitors. In the end it was Evans who prevailed 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(2) after twice giving back a break in the final set.
That tied the overall match at 1-1 for Great Britain, forcing a decisive doubles rubber. The visitors obviously went with Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury, while Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt benched the undefeated pair of John Peers and Chris Guccione in favor of Kyrgios and de Minaur.
The gamble paid off for Hewitt and the Aussies–but just barely.
Kyrgios and de Minaur battled back from a set down, saved four match points in a super-tiebreaker, and finally capitalized on their fifth match point to triumph 3-6, 6-3, 18-16.
“It was unreal,” Kyrgios commented. “The adrenaline has kind of worn off and I’m exhausted after that match. It was awesome. Today was probably one of the best moments in my career, definitely. Just making it through to the semifinal, the first-ever ATP Cup in that type of fashion, was pretty special.”
“I’m going to do anything for the team,” de Minaur said. “I knew that if I was going to step out on the doubles court, then I was going to make sure that I was going to be fired up, ready to go, and full of energy.”
The Aussies await either Spain or Belgium in the semifinals on Saturday.
absolute insanity
Now that’s what I call INCREDIBLE tv tennis…..WOW!!!!