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No Tomic again for Davis Cup quarter-final

Bernard Tomic is struggling – what would you do in his shoes? (Photo: AFP)
28th March, 2017
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Bernard Tomic remains in exile after Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt named an unchanged team for next month’s Davis Cup quarter-final against the United States in Brisbane.

With Tomic again boycotting the tie after missing Australia’s 4-1 first-round rout of the Czech Republic, Hewitt will continue to rely on in-form Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson for singles and Sam Groth and John Peers for doubles.

The quarter-final between the competition’s two most successful nations will be played on hard court at Pat Rafter Arena from April 7-9, with the winners to play either Belgium or Italy in the September semi-finals.

“All the boys are really excited,” Hewitt said on Tuesday.

“It should be a great tie against a very strong American side.

“Nick’s obviously our No.1 player and we’ll be relying on him heavily to get us through the tie.

“He’s beaten a lot of quality players since our first-round tie against the Czech Republic, and I feel the court in Brisbane is really going to suit him.

“He couldn’t be in better form and I really feel that he’s in the right frame to go out there and get the job done.”

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After beating Novak Djokovic twice in the past month, Kyrgios is through to the fourth round in Miami as he chases a fourth quarter-final appearance in as many tournaments.

Hewitt is also backing Thompson after the world No.79 outclassed both Jiri Vesely and Jan Satral on his Davis Cup debut last month.

“He handled it amazingly well. A quarter-final against the States will be another step up, but I’ve got full confidence in him,” the skipper said.

“As for Sam and John, they’ve played a couple of ties together now and have improved every time. They’ll have to step up again, but they understand one another’s game very well so I’m sure they’ll give a great account of themselves.”

After using the formidable team of John Isner, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson, players all ranked inside the top 30, in the USA’s first-round win over a Swiss outfit missing Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, American captain Jim Courier will name his side later on Tuesday.

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