Kyrgios saves energy in evening ledger for Aussies in Cup tie Fast work could pay off
NICK Kyrgios took an express route to level the Davis Cup tie against Germany last night, which also had the effect of cheering up his “little brother’’ Alex de Minaur.
Kyrgios put away German No. 2 Jan- Lennard Struff 6- 4, 6- 4, 6- 4 to leave the tie poised at 1- all with his latest powerhouse display at Pat Rafter Arena, holding all his service games and clouting 21 aces.
Earlier, a brave and resourceful de Minaur, making his Davis Cup debut at 18, was edged out 7- 5, 4- 6, 4- 6, 6- 3, 7- 6 ( 7- 4) by Germany’s world No. 5 Alexander Zverev in a 3hr54mins classic.
Australia will hope it serves to drain Zverev to some extent for his scheduled showdown with Kyrgios in tomorrow’s first reverse singles match because the Canberra whiz needed only 1hr37min to complete his win.
In his selection of de Minaur for singles duty ahead of Brisbane’s John Millman, Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt had backed his mobility and defence in rallies to make life as difficult as possible for Zverev if he was unable to land one of Australian Davis Cup history’s great debut wins.
“I kept him out there for four hours, some gruelling points in which we both did a lot of running,’’ said de Minaur, who described himself as “devastated’’.
De Minaur put his personal disappointment in a box to walk back out and support Kyrgios at courtside and found a wan smile when the Australian No. 1 paid tribute to his “unbelievable’’ debut effort.
“He put himself in a pos- ition to win – he will take so much from that match,’’ Kyrgios said.
“Alex is OK now and I can’t see why he won’t be able to do it on Sunday. The less time I spend on court is good for me to give myself my best chance to recover, so it was good to get off court.’’
Brisbane International champ Kyrgios won his seventh straight match at Rafter Arena, at which he is undefeated going back to the Cup win over the US in April.
“Nick has treated Alex like he is Alex’s older brother,’’ He- witt said. “They are the things Nick does which the public doesn’t see. I think Davis Cup has helped Nick because he knows he has blokes who have his back.”
The doubles rubber this afternoon is scheduled to pitch Australians John Peers and Matt Ebden against Germans Peter Gojowczyk and Tim Puetz.
But Hewitt said he expects a change to the German pairing under competition rules which permit the captains to make switches for the remaining three matches of the tie.