Kyrgios fired 34 aces and 41 winners to take his Davis Cup singles record to seven wins in eight as Australia finished the day at 1-1 after world No. 12 David Goffin had beaten 185-ranked John Millman 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
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With a place in the November 24-26 final at stake, Australia skipper Lleyton Hewitt gambled by bringing in Jordan Thompson to replace John Millman.
Sugita beat Guilherme Clezar 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 with quiet efficiency in Osaka before Soeda nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a nail-biting 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 win over Thiago Monteiro.
“It was a tough match but he played at a pretty high level, I thought the match in general was a pretty high level. I am really happy to win this one”.
The Frenchmen got the job done at home against a Serbian team that was without Novak Djokovic, Viktor Troicki, and Janko Tipsarevic.
AUSTRALIA has crashed out of the Davis Cup after Belgium fought back from trailing 1-2 in their World Group semi-final in Brussels to advance to the final.
“It was surprising. Davis Cup doubles you usually see marathon five-setters”, Thompson said.
Tsonga’s win gave Yannick Noah his third Davis Cup final appearance as captain but his first since 1996.
Goffin smacked his 19th ace for match point than zapped his 20th ace out wide to seal a dramatic three hour, nine-minute triumph.
Kyrgios’ love of basketball over tennis is no secret but Larkham sensed the chance to play for his country and not just himself sparked the flame for the 22-year-old. “I think we must be favourites going into the doubles’ tomorrow”.
Belgium will line up with Goffin and Darcis in the singles with Ruben Bemelmans and Arthur de Greef likely to partner up in doubles. With Tsonga’s win, the French reached an unassailable 3-1 lead and the teams decided against playing the final rubber.
Underdogs Serbia had picked up an unexpected first point when Lucas Pouille lost to Lajovic in Friday’s singles but Tsonga levelled by beating Davis Cup debutant Laslo Djere.
A fan of basketball, the team nature of Davis Cup has rekindled his interest and motivation, dismissing any injury issues with his shoulder as the weekend’s semi-final is his priority.
The statistics reflected the French team’s total domination in all phases as Hugues-Herbert and Mahut struck 37 winners to 21 for their opponents while also making fewer unforced errors (18 versus 23).
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“I know that he plays some really good Davis Cup matches”.
