USA and Australia tied in Davis Cup after wins by Isner and Tomic

Each of the two opening-day rubbers went according to ranking, leaving the first-round Davis Cup tie between the United States and Australia locked at 1-1 heading into Saturday’s doubles match.

John Isner kicked off the proceedings on the grass courts of the Kooyong Club in Melbourne by making surprisingly quick work of Sam Groth 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-2. For the first set it looked like a typical Isner-Groth match (even though this was their first head-to-head meeting) would be in the cards. A tiebreaker had to decide it, although not before Isner dug out of a 0-40 situation at 2-2.

After cruising through the ‘breaker, the 6’10” American put his foot on the gas pedal. He broke Groth twice in both the second and third sets to clinch victory after just one hour and 49 minutes.

“It was a very, very good performance for me,” Isner assessed, “and certainly I’ve played some matches in a lot in my career where I’ve struggled on return. But I think today I was pretty solid.”

Isner press conference:

Bernard Tomic made a quick turnaround following a runner-up performance on the hard courts of Acapulco to beat Jack Sock 7-6(2), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the second rubber. Although he started slow, Sock turned things around in the third and had chances in the fourth against an opponent who appeared to be showing signs of physical and mental wear and tear on the heels of his long week in Acapulco. But Tomic escaped a 0-30 hole midway through the fourth and broke Sock from just about out of nowhere at 4-4. An easy hold for the world No. 20 finished off the victory in two hours and 26 minutes.

“It was very tough out there,” Tomic assured. “I [hadn’t] beaten Sock before, so I knew that it was going to be tough…but also playing him on a surface where I could beat him. I was very happy (with the win) because the conditions were very tough–because I traveled so quickly here and you have to reset and you only have two or three days.”

Sock and captain Jim Courier press conference:

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