Lleyton Hewitt has hailed the “perfect day” for Australia’s soaring tennis men as they moved to the verge of another crack at Davis Cup finals glory by outclassing an injury and illness-decimated Czech team 3-0 in Valencia.
Their second qualifying group victory in three days on Thursday, after the far harder-fought 2-1 win over France at the Spanish venue, almost guarantees Australia will get the chance to again shoot for victory in the eight-team finals week in Malaga.
But having finished runner-up in both of the last two years, Hewitt reckons he won’t be satisfied until his team’s ticket is definitively sealed for Malaga in their quest to make it third time lucky and end a 21-year quest to regain the title in November.
Asked if he could already now think of the finals, he was adamant: “Not until we qualify – and the goal the whole time has been to qualify, no matter how we get there. Once that job’s done, then I’ll be very satisfied.”
That job could be completed as early as Friday with Australia assured of qualification should hosts Spain, with Wimbledon and Roland Garros champ Carlos Alcaraz spearheading their bid, defeat France.
Hewitt reckoned he was proud at how his team handled a strange tie which was described by his long-serving Czech counterpart Jaroslav Navratil as “my worst day as captain” with his star singles players both stricken amid their already depleted four-man team.
Jiri Lehecka, the No.2, went down with a fever while his No.1 Tomas Machac, who’d withdrawn with cramp during his match with Alcaraz just 24 hours earlier, was only fit enough to play nine points against Alexei Popyrin before having to give up with a calf injury.
It seemed farcical he even started.
That facile eight-minute victory sealed Australia’s win but Thanasi Kokkinakis, again entrusted with the tricky No.2 singles spot, had already come up trumps once more on the indoor hard court, maturely handling the erratic firepower of rising teenage star Jakub Mensik in an impressive 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 victory.
“Thanasi did great, played fantastic. He had a small hiccup, getting broken when serving for the match in the second set, but it was how he responded when challenged, which was so impressive to me,” said Hewitt.
“That’s going to give him the world of belief in himself under that kind of pressure.”
Hewitt’s decision to play the world No.78 rather than Jordan Thompson (No.29) also proved justified as Kokkinakis bombed down 19 aces to subdue world No.67 Mensik, a 19-year-old with a big future, just two days after the Adelaide man had also beaten young French riser Arthur Fils.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d get the call up, but I’d been training well. So to step up and put two points on the board for us is massive,” said Kokkinakis.
“And big ups to Lleyton for trusting me and giving me the run when all of us could have played. I think that’s the beauty of tennis in Australia right now. We’re all having great years.”
Cheered on courtside by their top man Alex de Minaur, who wasn’t quite fit after his US Open exertions, Hewitt reckoned his “perfect day” was completed when his trusty doubles pairing of Matt Ebden and Max Purcell outclassed Mensik and Adam Pavlasek 6-4 6-2 to improve their dazzling Davis Cup record together to 8-1.
Purcell, in particular, was absolutely brilliant in the hour-long exhibition by the former Wimbledon champs.
The victory put Hewitt’s team in a hugely powerful position to reach the eight-team finals week after a second group B victory, with a tie against the Alcaraz-inspired hosts still to come on Sunday.
Still, there’s the faintest chance Australian dreams could be scuppered should there be the perfect storm of France winning both their matches and Hewitt’s crew getting trounced by Spain.
