Australia into Davis Cup finals after beating Bosnia/Herzegovina
In the speediest way imaginable, Jordan Thompson and John Peers were the men to ensure Australia made it through to the Davis Cup finals in Spain this November.
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Madrid calling.
In the speediest way imaginable Australia have made it through to the finals in Spain at the year end, overwhelming a tepid Bosnia/Herzegovina 4-0 at Memorial Drive. Maybe the shortened format — five sets down to three — has its upsides.
Jordan Thompson and John Peers were the men to see Australia through, seeing off Tomislav Brkic and Mirza Basic with increasing ease, 3-0 to the Aussies, in the first match of the afternoon and tie over.
Welcome as this result is, and the crowd lapped it up, there is a feeling all is not quite right with the fiddlings to the age old competition, the fourth singles match encapsulating much that was odd about this tie.
Australia are deserving winners, no bones about it, yet when debutant Alexei Popyrin trounced Nerman Fatic 6-1, 7-6 in just 16 minutes — mightily impressive — it was not hard to feel the old ways, five sets over three days, were preferable. We had only just got going, surely, yet already we were going home. It is yet to sit comfortably.
The upside of course is that Australia has its place at the top table in Spain though will not play again, competitively, until the finals in November. It is a long wait.
Fatic, a stand in for the mentally broken if top ranked Bosnian Damir Dzumhur and a player with a ranking so lowly the ATP website has seemingly abstained from telling us what it is, did not belong on the same court as the nerveless Popyrin in the first set, the Aussie ranked 124 in the world and a man-boy with the reach of an albatross and the instinct of an eagle. He is some player already, power, aim and focus. He did not let up, Fatic, despite a second revival that he somehow bundled into a tie-break, a goner in 61 minutes overall.
Earlier, coming into Saturday at 2-0 down, there was a suspicion the Bosnians might capitulate in the afternoon’s opening doubles match.
Yet try as they did, Thompson and Peers just could not pull clear of Bosnia/Herzegovina’s vastly experienced Brkic and Basic, a pair with an extraordinary 51 Davis Cup ties between them.
Nip and tuck throughout a 48 minute first set, it was only in the 12th games when the Aussies broke clear, Brkic losing his serve on the third set point.
The atmosphere, as with Friday, was wholesome, though the temporary eastern stand that bore the brunt of a piercing sunshine — 36C — was half full at best and no place to sit at all. The crowds were large elsewhere in the stadium but the new $10 million canopy roof cannot come soon enough.
Spruced up for the tie, Memorial Drive sparkled well enough but has the feel of an early 20th century SANFL ground. The upgrade, which will facilitate the major incoming ATP and WTA tournament next January, is welcome.
They are a good combo, Thompson and Peers, Thompson’s doubles ranking of just 217 an aberration. Peers has the 2017 Australian Open under his belt and guided his partner well.
“Nothing compares to playing for your Australia,” said Peers. “There is no greater honour for us.”
Captain Lleyton Hewitt chose to thank Aussie doubles great, Tony Roche, who has been helping coach the green and gold team.
“Most of the time he is the guy who gets these guys peaking for the match days,” Hewitt said.
On an afternoon when Bernie Tomic was formally, and finally, cast adrift by Tennis Australia, this team can look ahead with some anticipation.
The individual rankings are not the highest but there is an overriding collective ethos, John Millman perhaps the glue, Hewitt’s man on the ground and he does the job splendidly. A future Davis Cup captain himself? Why not, he is getting a hell of a grounding.
And that was it. A memorable occasion but gone too quickly by far.
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Originally published as Australia into Davis Cup finals after beating Bosnia/Herzegovina
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