Davis Cup: John Millman, Alex de Minaur record strong wins as Aussies push Bosnia-Herzegovina to brink
Two quick routs have put Australia into a near unassailable position at the end of day one of a Davis Cup qualifier that will propel Lleyton Hewitt’s team to the inaugural end of year, 18 nation finals in Madrid.
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Two quick routs have put Australia into a near unassailable position at the end of day one of a Davis Cup qualifier that will propel Lleyton Hewitt’s team to the inaugural end of year, 18 nation finals in Madrid.
Already the obituaries can be written for Bosnia/Herzegovina. And oddly, given it was the Davis Cup, the afternoon was as emphatic as it was quick, just four sets and two hours and 37 minutes play. In total. Extraordinary.
Indeed, the much derided changes to the 118-year-old competition — from the best of five sets to the best of three — have not so much shortened as transformed the contest into a tennis appropriation of the Big Bash, and one on speed at that.
After he had polished Damir Dzumhur in just 71 minutes in the opening bout, John Millman spoke thrillingly of the team spirit, the ‘all for one’ culture Lleyton Hewitt has brought to Davis Cup side.
“Davis Cup moments like these are the ones you remember. It’s a different experience playing at home, different pressure,” he said.
“You can’t replicate week in week out on the ATP tour what it’s like to play in the green and gold of your country. Lleyton wants to create a culture where the Davis Cup is one of the benchmarks of our year.”
After a couple of weeks of turmoil at Tennis Australia — Bernie and Nick of course — the captain can sleep well, any comeback his detractors might have sought from here wholly unforthcoming.
Really, it was all done with Millman, Australia’s number two player putting a sizeable dent in Bosnian aspirations of playing any further in this competition this year, blasting Dzumhur (ranked just outside the world top 20 last year) away, the pumped up Queenslander never behind, first rate in manner and substance all afternoon to secure, somewhat surprisingly, his first ever Davis Cup win.
Dzumhur laid the blame for a below par performance on mental problems, he lacked confidence he said.
“I just wanted my teammates to go out and change places with me,” he bemoaned. A patently decent man, he looked lost, it would be a surprise to see him feature, let alone win, anything more this weekend.
This competition, in its longer format, lasted seemingly, forever sometimes. This effort before a willing and vocal Memorial Drive crowd felt little more than an extended opening couple of sets, only it was not.
Maybe Hewitt, so vocal in his opposition to the format changes introduced this year to the cup he venerates so much, will be less agitated now.
“It’s certainly not finished, we have a lot of hard work to do this weekend,” said Hewitt.
His number two player and then number one player, Alex de Minaur, did their jobs and did him proud, Australia slipping ahead. But they will not slip back.
De Minaur started just before 6pm, shadows just creeping across the court, idyllic tennis watching weather a perfect setting for the teenager’s early play, the first set to de Minaur in just 33 minutes, an improvement on Millman’s earlier salvo.
Basic is ranked 99 in the world to de Minaur’s 28 and the gap showed, at times more a gulf against an opponent who has played 42 Davis Cup rubbers but was cowed by the top ranked Australian.
De Minaur was calm and solid, the win routine but the occasion far from it. He will long remember Bosnia and in a fond way only.
De Minaur, who will next face Dzumhur in the fourth rubber, was glowing afterwards.
“It’s a dream come true, I have had amazing experiences on the tennis court and this is definitely up there,” he said.
“There is nothing I wanted more than to represent my country in the Davis Cup and to win for my country, it’s a huge pressure is off my chest now.”
While thoroughly enjoying himself, de Minaur lamented the disappearance of the five set format which ran until the 2018 Davis Cup final.
“Everyone has got your back out there, the atmosphere was incredible,” he said.
“No matter what corner of the stadium you are in you can hear support and that’s the special thing about home and away ties and that’s sadly one of the things we are going to be missing out on.”
Hewitt agreed the change of format “felt different”.
“100 per cent, I was disappointed for the crowd a little bit,” Hewitt said.
“No Davis Cup is easy, you don’t see straight sets wins often in the best of five set but we need to get these boys ready for tomorrow. With that in mind, I am pretty happy it was straight sets,” Hewitt said.
“It’s never easy in the Davis Cup, no matter who you are playing. The boys were nervous I could tell, but when you have the right preparation (as they have) you know you are ahead of the game.”
SCOREBOARD
John Millman d Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 6-2
Alex de Minaur d Mirza Basic 6-3, 7-6 (0)
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