Straight-set wins for Alex de Minaur and Aleksandar Vukic place Australia in a commanding place within the Davis Cup qualifying tie in Stockholm.
Stockholm, Sweden, 31 January 2025 | AAP
Trusty Davis Cup outdated hand Alex de Minaur and late-blooming newcomer Aleksandar Vukic have put the Tradition Amp Australian Davis Cup staff properly on the highway to victory of their first-round qualifying tie in opposition to Sweden in Stockholm.
World No.8 de Minaur, in his first outing since his Australian Open quarterfinal look needed to subdue a comeback from Mikael Ymer earlier than working away to a 7-5 6-1 victory on Saturday morning (AEDT).
Then Vukic, thrilled to be making his debut within the ‘World Cup of males’s tennis’ at age 28, marked his introduction by beating 21-year-old Leo Borg, son of Swedish nice Bjorn Borg, 6-4 6-4.
The two-0 lead after the primary of two days within the best-of-five-rubber tie leaves Lleyton Hewitt’s staff poised to seal their second-round place. Olympic gold medallists John Friends and Matt Ebden are statistically favoured to beat Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson in Sunday morning’s doubles.
De Minaur’s sixteenth Davis Cup singles win offered the Australian staff with the perfect lift-off, silencing a vocal full home within the Swedish capital’s Royal Tennis Corridor.
“It was a aggressive match, a really robust match. Mikael performed properly, I knew he was going to be a really robust opponent, so I’m very joyful I received the win for Australia,” De Minaur advised the gang, which included his mum Esther and a bunch of travelling ‘Dundees’ supporters.
The Demon strikes in Stockholm 😈
Alex de Minaur powers via the second set to take the match 7-5 6-1, giving Australia a 1-0 lead within the tie 🙌#DavisCup | @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/B5aX8KkQqi
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) January 31, 2025
It ended up a simple win for ‘Demon’ on the short indoor onerous courtroom however he had his palms full early on with Ymer, a former top-50 participant who’s returning after serving an 18-month ban for an anti-doping violation and was coming off an ITF event triumph final week in Luxembourg.
The 26-year-old matched de Minaur shot for shot within the opening set– one rally received by the Australian went on for 41 strokes – with neither man incomes even the sniff of a break within the first 10 video games.
However De Minaur stepped up completely, reeling off eight straight factors with relentless deep hitting to take the 51-minute set and two extra factors instantly at first of the second to arrange one other break.
De Minaur then went on to make it six video games in a row and reel off the victory in opposition to his tiring opponent in a single hour 27 minutes.
All residence hopes had been then on the lad with the well-known identify, however younger Borg, whose dad received the Davis Cup 50 years in the past this 12 months, was no match for world No.66 Vukic, ranked over 400 locations larger on the ATP pc.
Although Borg broke again to degree within the first set at 3-3, Vukic, who landed his place within the staff after his terrific Australian Open run made him the apparent alternative after accidents to Nick Kyrgios, Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis, instantly lifted to interrupt to like and management the opening stanza.
A dream debut 💚💛
A robust efficiency from Aleksandar Vukic means the @CultureAmp Australian Davis Cup staff is one win away from progressing to the subsequent stage. pic.twitter.com/jqlzNz0Fpc
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) January 31, 2025
World No.484 Borg continued to be doughty, incomes three break factors for a 5-4 lead within the second, however Vukic raised his degree every time hazard loomed, helped by 10 aces.
Breaking for 5-4, he needed to repel one other fightback from Borg till lastly sealing the deal on his second match level.
“Leo’s an excellent participant. He made it very robust, and it’s at all times robust to play in entrance of the opponent’s residence crowd. A match that I’m very joyful to win,” smiled Vukic.
“Alex did an awesome job earlier than me, and hopefully we’ll simply get some relaxation and restoration earlier than the doubles guys attempt to do their factor.”
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