By Chris Oddo | Friday February 2, 2018
Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev came through with wins to bring Australia and Germany square on Friday in Brisbane.
Photo Source AAP
Alexander Zverev fought off the upstart Aussie Alex de Minaur in five grueling sets to give Germany a temporary 1-0 lead before Nick Kyrgios closed the day with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff in 97 minutes. Kyrgios hammered 21 aces to ensure the Green and Gold a point heading into Saturday’s doubles action.
Kyrgios, playing in his ninth career tie, has now won six of his last seven Davis Cup singles rubbers.
Zverev's prolonged battle has likely ruled the tie's highest-ranked player out of Saturday's doubles rubber, but he can nonetheless savor staving off the fiesty Australian in five.
“I hope that will be the deciding point to get the win,’’ Zverev said of his hard-fought triumph. “We need three points, we’ve got one. We’ve got two more to go.’’
The 18-year-old World No. 139 nearly stunned World No.5 Zverev before the German rallied from two sets to one down to notch a 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory.
The victory could be important for Zverev, who came perilously close to losing back-to-back five-setters after falling to Hyeon Chung in the third round at the Australian Open.
“He’s a top 10 player, and in the decisive moments he was able to come up with a couple of free points that really set the tone for the end of that match,’’ De Minaur said.
De Minaur had a 3-0 lead in the deciding set, but Zverev hit back immediately to level at three-all. The match stayed on serve until the tiebreaker.
Kazakhstan Sweeps Day 1
Dmitry Popko and Mikhail Kukushkin staked Kazakhstan to a 2-0 lead over visiting Switzerland in Astana. World No.231 Popko, playing in just his third Davis Cup tie, knocked off Henri Laaksonen, 6-2, 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-5, to get the ball rolling for Kazakhstan.
Kukushkin came back to defeat Adrian Bodmer, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
Kazakhastan has participated in the World Group every year since 2010.
Norrie Shines on Davis Cup Debut
Without Kyle Edmund in the lineup it looked to be a Herculean task for Great Britain to come out with a singles win on Friday, playing on red clay against a talented Spanish squad that featured two experienced Top 25 talents. Enter Cameron Norrie, who stunned Roberto Bautista Agut (Albert Ramos-Vinolas defeated Liam Broady in Friday's first tie) on his Davis Cup debut to bring the Brits even with Spain on Friday.
Norrie's comeback from two sets down against the veteran Spaniard impressed Great Britain's captain Leon Smith: "Bautista Agut is so tough and it was amazing to see Cam as a rookie wear him down,” Smith said after the match. “We’ve had a lot of amazing moments in Davis Cup and that was certainly one of them."
The 4:01 victory by Norrie also impressed another British legend:
Top 5 Shots of Day 1
There was some gorgeous shotmaking on Day 1, including some impressive clay-court stylings from Denis Shapovalov and Cameron Norrie. We voted Shapovalov No.1 and Norrie No.2 on the list.
France and Netherlands Split, Belgium Leads Hungary 2-0
The French got a surprise when Adrian Mannarino subbed in for an injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and was defeated by Thiemo De Bakker. But Les Bleus fought back and drew level thanks to Richard Gasquet's 6-4, 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 win over Robin Haase.
In Liege, David Goffin and Ruben Bemelmans held serve to propel last year's runner-up Belgium to a 2-0 lead over Hungary.
In Osijek, Croatia, a pair of rising stars rose to the Davis Cup challenge as Borna Coric gave Croatia a 1-0 lead with a four-set win over Vasek Pospisil. 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov answered by turning in his first career clay-court win, a three-set blanking of Viktor Galovic in 1:50.
U.S.A. Blanks Serbia
Sam Querrey (d. Laso Djere in 4 sets) and John Isner (d. Lajovic in five sets) answered the bell on the red clay in Nis, staking the Americans to a 2-0 lead over Serbia in Nis. That's great news for the Americans, who own a record of 158-4 in Davis Cup ties where they lead 2-0 heading into the weekend.
"Long and successful, is how I would sum it up, in the briefest of sentence," U.S. Captain Jim Courier said on Friday. "It was a grind. The matches were both highly competitive. There were some pivotal moments in the matches -- John’s match, in particular, came pretty late. But it’s a satisfying feeling. We’ve been on the other side of days like today, so to be up 2-0 is a tremendous feeling, and we’re very proud of these guys’ efforts."
Japan, Italy Level
Fabio Fognini battled back from two sets to one down against Taro Daniel to give Italy a 1-0 lead, but Yuichi Sugita won a five-set thriller over Andreas Seppi to send Japan and Italy into the weekend all level at one.
“The captain suffers on the bench when his team plays 10 sets and eight hours,” Italy’s captain Corrado Barazzutti said. “You know, 1-1 is a big difference to 2-0. Now the tie is open. We are a little bit disappointed because we were so close to 2-0. We still have a chance to win the tie. I feel sorry for Andy because he played a great match, in the right spirit, for the country and for his team-mates.”