Davis Cup 2019: Australia defeats Belgium; Canadians cause controversy

Nick Kyrgios is a man on a mission in the green and gold, continuing his fiery start to the Davis Cup with another clinical performance.

Nick Kyrgios continued his hot start to the Davis Cup, defeating Steve Darcis in straight sets to give Australia a 1-0 lead in its tie against Belgium before Alex de Minaur finished the job to steer the Aussies into the quarter-finals.

Kyrgios toppled Colombia’s Alejandro Gonzalez on Wednesday to start the Aussies’ campaign on the right foot as they romped to a 3-0 win and he maintained the rage against Darcis, overcoming the 35-year-old 6-2 7-6.

The Canberra product won 100 per cent of points when he landed his first serve and delivered nine aces on his last 10 serves as he did his best to make quick work of the Belgian veteran.

Aussies lead Belgium 1-0 ... amazing serving display from Nick Kyrgios 🙌🏻 #DavisCup

— Nat Edwards (@Nat_Edwards) November 20, 2019

Nick Kyrgios was in the most extraordinary groove on serve tonight.

He won 100% (43/43) of points on his first serve vs Darcis and something like 9 of his last 12 serves were aces (lost count of the exact number). #DavisCupFinals

— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) November 20, 2019

Kyrgios powered through the opening set in 24 minutes and then held his nerve against against a much-improved Darcis in a high-quality second set in front on noisy crowd dominated by Belgian fans.

Kyrgios did well to hold firm when it mattered and saved two set points to close out the win and repeat his victory over the BelgianNo.2 from two years ago in Brussels.

De Minaur, also high on confidence after a win in the Colombian tie yesterday, then outclassed world No. 11 David Goffin 6-0 7-6 in the following singles rubber to give Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead.

The young gun played a breathtaking opening set as he scooted through without dropping a game then held his nerve in the second set to stave off set points and triumph in a tiebreaker.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I’ve had an unbelievable year but winning for my country is above anything I’ve been able to accomplish,” de Minaur said.

Australian duo John Peers and Jordan Thompson stepped onto the court for the doubles rubber but withdrew after just one game because of concerns over a wrist injury to Peers.

The victory means the Lleyton Hewitt-captained team will face Canada in the quarter-finals.

ANGST OVER CANADIAN CONTROVERSY

Canada are embroiled in match forfeiting controversy that could have repercussions for the make-up of the Davis Cup quarter-finals.

On Wednesday (AEDT), Vasek Pospisil beat Reilly Opelka and Denis Shapovalov defeated Taylor Fritz to give Canada a first ever success over the US in 16 Davis Cup attempts.

The victory earned them top spot in Group F with the 14th-ranked side having already beaten Italy 2-1 on Tuesday.

However, Canadian captain Frank Dancevic then opted to concede the final doubles rubber, handing the US a 6-0 6-0 walkover win after three of his players were declared unfit to play.

But with the two best runners-up from the six groups earning a spot in the quarter-finals based on the number of ties, sets and games won, the walkover could work in US team’s favour should they beat Italy today.

Novak Djokovic was critical of the Canadian move and also the ITF’s decision to award such a comprehensive scoreline given the rules of the competition.

“I personally don’t like that,” Djokovic said. “That shouldn’t be allowed. I understand that Canada is through already.

“Maybe they wanted to rest their injured players for the quarter-finals and onwards?

“But I just feel it’s not fair that the opposing team gets 6-0 6-0 because they are going actually head-to-head now against Italy.

“And then the winner is going to be second but then that 6-0 6-0 might make a big difference in the calculations for the second-best teams in the group. I don’t think that’s fair.”

Denis Shapovalov spearheaded Canada to a drought-breaking win over the US.

Djokovic’s views were shared by fellow former world No. 1 Andy Murray, who won on his return to Davis Cup for Great Britain after three years away.

“I don’t think that’s good,” Murray said. “One of the positive things to the way the group stages work is that all of the matches are live, there isn’t any dead rubbers.

“So where Canada may have felt that was a dead rubber in theory for them because they were already through, that could have implications to all of the teams potentially that might finish in second place.”

With AAP