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The Australian File: Success in the Davis Cup as an Aussie shines on grass in Newport

Lleyton Hewitt (AAP Photo)
Roar Guru
20th July, 2015
4

Welcome to the latest edition of the Australian File, your weekly look at the week in tennis from an Aussie perspective.

All eyes were on Darwin with Australia taking on Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup quarter final on grass. The Aussies would just win, after coming back from 0-2 down on Friday.

This wasn’t the only event on with ATP, WTA, and ITF events held around the world.

Davis Cup
In the space of three days, Australia went from despair to triumph, as they created history with a 3-2 win over Kazakhstan.

On Friday it was almost the worst 24 hours of tennis for the country.

It all started with Bernard Tomic being arrested in Miami, and ended with Australia down two rubbers to love against Kazakhstan.

In the opening rubber, Mikhail Kukushkin outplayed Thanasi Kokkinakis, to win in straight sets.

Nick Kyrgios would then be defeated by Aleksandr Nedovyesov in four sets in another frustrating display for the Australian public.

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At times, he was brilliant.

At other times, his attitude was poor, and he even muttered he didn’t want to be there.

It put Australia 0-2 down and in big trouble.

Only once – in 1939 against America – have they come back to win from that position.

For Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt, they ignored history, and set about restoring pride.

On Saturday, in just their second doubles match together, they initiated the comeback.

The 6-4 7-6 6-2 win, over Nedovyesov and Andrey Golubev, gave Australia their first rubber for the match, and kept them alive.

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Wally Masur, the Australian coach, then made the huge decision to back the doubles players in the reverse singles.

Sam Groth would play the fourth rubber with Lleyton Hewitt finishing the job off if Australia made it to the final match.

The decision proved to be a masterstroke with Groth beating Kukushkin in four sets to send the final to a live finale.

With the court being quick, and suited to a powerful game, Groth flourished as he kept Kukushkin out of the match with his serve.

With no fear, in his first live singles match, Groth hit 31 aces, won 88per cent of his first serves, and lost just 18 points overall out of 143 on his serve.

It was a faultless display from the Aussie who only got broken in the third set of the match.

This created the perfect script for Australia’s greatest Davis Cup player, Lleyton Hewitt.

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If ever you want someone fighting in your corner, Hewitt is the man.

Interestingly though, it was his first Davis Cup match in a decisive fifth rubber.

The occasion didn’t get to him though and instead he lifted Australia to a famous win.

Just as his AFL team the Adelaide Crows were winning a famous Showdown, Hewitt would deliver just the second comeback for Australia from 0-2 down.

The last one, in 1939, also involved a South Australian legend and John Bromwich
He would take the first set in a tiebreaker, and then run away with the contest.

The extra days rest for Hewitt – and the pressure on Kazakhstan – got to Nedovyesov and he fell away.

You had to feel for Kazakhstan who gave everything in the tie to be in the semis for the first time.

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Instead Australia now make the semis for the first time since 2006. Now they take on Great Britain away from home in the second week of September.

ATP
There was one ATP event this week in Newport, with an Australian making a comeback to the sport.

Mark Philippoussis, who reached number 8 in the world in 1999, got a qualifying wildcard into the draw.

He would lose to Eric Quigley in straight sets in the opening round.

Later in the week, in doubles, he would make the quarter finals with Ryan Harrison.

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Don’t expect it to be a comeback though. He was just playing a one off event, and may play a couple more in America in the future.

Three Aussies were in the main draw of singles, with Bernard Tomic and John-Patrick Smith facing each other in Round 1.

With plenty of off-field issues for Tomic, the occasion got to him, as his fellow Queenslander defeated him 6-3 7-5.

Smith would have the week of his career so far, making his first semi-final at an ATP event.

His run would come to an end against Rajeev Ram, who won the tournament.

Matt Ebden – who qualified for the main draw – lost to Sam Querrey in two tiebreaker sets.

WTA
Just one Australian played in the two WTA events last week in Bastad and Bucharest.

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Sam Stosur competed in Bastad and made the second round.

She would lose, in a disappointing performance, to Lara Arruabarrena in straight sets.

ATP Challenger
Similarly, to the WTA, just one Australian played in the ATP Challenger events in Poznan and San Benedetto.

Jason Kubler would make the second round in Poznan before falling to Pedja Krstin 7-6 2-6 7-5.

He would have 20 break point chances but only convert 5 of them in a match that could have been won by the Aussie.

ITF
There was more success for Australia in doubles on the ITF circuit in the 23 events last week.

After two doubles titles last week, there was another two this week.

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This included the all-Australian final in the doubles at Belgium F6.

Steven De Waard and Marc Polmans would battle Maverick Banes and Jacob Grills in the decider.

In two tight sets, and a deciding match tiebreaker, De Waard and Polmans would win their third title together as a combo.

They have now won three titles – two in Australia and one in Belgium – in the last 12 months.

There was also success in doubles on the women’s side with Alexandra Nancarrow winning a fourth doubles title in as many weeks.

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This time she found success in Belgium as well, at the 10,000 Nieuwpoort event, as she claimed her 19th doubles title overall.

The young Australian is continuing to dominate in the lower levels of the ITF circuit.

In singles action, Jordan Thompson had the best result for the men, with a semi-finalist appearance at the Great Britain F7 event on grass.

On the women’s side, Astra Sharma impressed again, as she made the quarter finals at the Sharm El Sheikh event.

Rankings
Sam Stosur remains Australia’s highest female player at 23 in the world.

Storm Sanders, after her quarter finals appearance in El Paso two weeks ago, is almost back into the top 400. She moved 46 spots to 405 in the world.

Astra Sharma also got a ranking of 797 after her success in Egypt.

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Bernard Tomic is Australia’s highest male player at 29 in the world. He is down four spots from last week.

John-Patrick Smith moved to a career high of 134 after his semi-final appearance in Newport.

Lleyton Hewitt, after his Davis Cup heroics, moved up 53 spots in the rankings to 226.

This week
There is plenty of tennis on this week with three ATP events, two WTA events, and five ATP Challengers.

All the action will be updated next week in the next edition of Australian File.

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