By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday November 22, 2023
Alex de Minaur fought from the brink and spearheaded a classic green and gold comeback win on Wednesday in Malaga.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
With his back against the wall, Alex de Minaur took matters into his own hands, played his trademark ferocious tennis and dug himself – and Australia – out of a big hole on Wednesday at Davis Cup.
The man they call “The Demon” has never shied away from leaving it all on the court for his nation and on Wednesday, when called, he answered the bell to notch a dramatic come from behind victory over Jiri Lehecka, 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5.
The uplifting victory put wind in the sails of Team Australia and Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden went out and made a beeline for the deciding doubles point, defeating Lehecka and Adam Pavlasek 6-4, 7-5 in 73 minutes to send 28-time Davis Cup champion Australia into the semi-finals where Finland waits.
De Minaur was nearly on the losing end against Lehecka, who served for the tie leading 6-4, 5-4, but the 22-year-old World No.31 could not break the will of 12th-ranked De Minaur.
“I'm always going to fight until the end. Look, if he would have come out when he served for it and played too good, then I end up shaking his hand, his captain's hand, and we say, Too good,” De Minaur said. “But it wasn't the case. I got a little sniff. I was able to roll with it. You know, I think my reputation kind of is quite strong when it comes to these types of situations.
“It kind of precedes me. Maybe I won that match because of that today.”
De Minaur, who also rallied from 2-3, 0-40 in the third set before winning five of the final seven games, has won eight of his last nine Davis Cup battles.
Aussie Captain Lleyton Hewitt was not surprised by the incredible heart shown by De Minaur.
“I prided myself on never-say-die attitude, and he's certainly in the same vein with that. Yeah, we're just awfully proud of him as a team, for him to go out there and put the boys on his back again and give us an opportunity to go through. Yeah, it gives us a chance in a couple of days' time,” he said. Purcell and Ebden were unstoppable from the service stripe as they rode the momentum past the less experienced doubles tandem of Lehecka and Pavlasek. The Aussie duo dropped just seven points on serve and never faced a break point.
“I didn't want him to go and come back for nothing,” Purcell said of De Minaur’s exploits. “That would have been pretty disappointing. Would have been hard to walk back into the room, [I would probably] just walk back to the hotel.
Australia is bidding for its 29th Davis Cup crown, and its first since 2003, while Finland, its opponent in Friday’s semi-final tie, has never been this far at Davis Cup before.
On Thursday Serbia, lead by Novak Djokovic, will face Great Britain, while Jannik Sinner’s Italian squad will face the Netherlands. The winners will meet in the semi-finals on Saturday, with the final taking place on Sunday in Malaga.