Davis Cup: Aussies lose quarter-final tie with Canada despite Alex de Minaur heroics

With Nick Kyrgios nursing an injury that wasn’t disclosed until after the tie was over, Australia have been sensationally dumped out of the Davis Cup as Canada pulled off a shock doubles win to take a tense quarterfinal.

MADRID, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 21: Alex De Minaur of Australia plays a shot in his quarter final singles match against Denis Shapovalov of Canada during Day Four of the 2019 Davis Cup at La Caja Magica on November 21, 2019 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt says a collarbone injury was the reason Nick Kyrgios did not play in the opening singles rubber in the Davis Cup quarter-final defeat to Canada.

Australia went down 2-1 with the inspirational Vasik Pospisil the hero for the Canadians who will now face Serbia or Russia in the semi-finals.

John Peers and Jordan Thompson went down 6-4 6-4 in the decisive doubles rubber, but the biggest talking point of the tie was the shock decision to play John Millman in the opening rubber instead of Kyrgios.

Stream live coverage of the WTA and ATP Tours with ESPN and beIN SPORTS on KAYO. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly >

Nick Kyrgios led the Aussie cheer squad.

“Nick woke up this morning with a problem. It was with his collarbone and he was unable to play,” Hewitt said.

“John came in and did his best, but we are all very disappointed to be out.”

The 24-year-old has been in brilliant form during the first two ties, hurling down 34 aces and was earlier this week labelled the ultimate team man by captain Hewitt.

Mystery surrounded the late scratching with Tennis Australia officials merely saying Kyrgios had not been nominated.

Collarbone injury for Kyrgios not being able to play in the opening rubber of the Davis Cup. No idea why we couldn't be told that earlier by TA but there you go.

— Ian McCullough (@IanMac08) November 22, 2019

But Hewitt revealed after the tie that Kyrgios pulled up the morning after beating Belgium’s Steve Darcis with the problem. After being unable to serve at full strength two hours before the match on a practice court, the decision was made to draft in Millman.

“I was expecting to play Nick,” admitted Pospisil.

“I was expecting to play him until the hour before the match, I think it was one hour before when the captains nominate the line-up.

“I was like, ‘Oh well, OK, that’s surprising’. And then I just, you know, digested it for five minutes and then went back to getting my racquets ready.

Hewitt was in a different frame of mind after De Minaur’s great win.

Millman fell in straight sets in place of Kyrgios.

“You obviously start to change my mentality in terms of how I was going to play the match a little bit because they’re two very different players, polar opposites.”

Millman started well against the huge-serving Pospisil, breaking his serve in only the second game of the match.

However, the 29-year-old broke back to level the set at 4-4 and then saved two set points to take a tense tiebreak.

Millman struggled to deal with the Pospisil’s power game in the second set and was unable to hold serve at 5-4 down and the Canadian forced an error to seal victory.

The admirable Alex de Minaur then levelled the tie at 1-1 after coming from a set down to beat Shapovalov in a rematch of the 2016 junior Wimbledon final.

Hewitt makes his point to Peers and Thompson.

But Pospisil, a former All England doubles champion lifted his young teammate in the decider shortly after his defeat, to seal a fantastic victory.

Injuries to Felix Auger-Aliassime and Brayden Schnur and Milos Raonic have forced the Canadians to field Shapovalov and Pospisil in every match of the tournament.

Peers, who was forced to retire with an elbow injury just one game into the dead rubber against Belgium in the early hours of Thursday morning (EDT), was cleared to play.

But after a poor first set, the Aussies broke in the first game of the second set to seize the initiative.

However, Thompson was broken at 4-4 and Pospisil, fittingly, held his nerve to close out the win and leave Australia without a Davis Cup win since 2003.

Originally published as Davis Cup: Aussies lose quarter-final tie with Canada despite Alex de Minaur heroics