Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt has showered praise on his players after they produced a ruthless Davis Cup finals display to put Colombia to the sword in Madrid.
Routine victories for Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur over Alejandro Gonzalez and Daniel Galan respectively opened up an unassailable 2-0 lead before John Peers and Jordan Thompson prevailed in the doubles.
Peers and Thompson produced the performance of the day as they saved three match points to beat world No.1 pairing Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal – the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions.
Farah and Cabal spurned three opportunities to clinch victory in the tiebreak before the Australia pairing sealed a memorable 6-3 3-6 7-6 (8-6) victory in a match that finished after midnight.
“It went pretty well,” Hewitt said.
“Obviously both the singles boys had a fair bit of pressure and expectation on them going out there, knowing that the Colombians were going to play better than their rankings and also knowing we had to face the No.1 doubles pair in the world.”
Hewitt, who has been an outspoken critic of the revamped event refused to labour the point about his opinions but did say the ridiculously late timings of matches could prove to be a problem later in the competition.
With six three-match ties a day scheduled across three courts, the second batch of matches do not start until 6pm local time with Australia’s doubles match finishing in virtually an empty stadium.
Spain’s deciding rubber against Russia was not completed until almost 2am, leaving thousands of supporters struggling to get home with public transport finished for the night.
“No doubt it’s a problem,” Hewitt said.
“It throws your sleeping and eating pattern. The guys have to get treatment after these matches, and then a lot of the times you’ve got to bounce back the next day as well.
“It’s just another thing we’re dealing with this week. It’s late enough for us, but let alone those guys (Spain).
“I don’t know if they have to play tomorrow, but we’ve got to focus on our 6pm match tomorrow night as well. These boys should be home in bed.
“The atmosphere wasn’t great. The stands were a quarter or half full.
“That’s the big problem about playing in a neutral venue.”
A buoyant Kyrgios declared Australia’s team spirit can be key to winning the Davis Cup after he produced a mature performance to see off his 468th-ranked opponent.
Kyrgios put away the tweeners and the underarm serves but was imperious on his own serve, hurling down 16 aces and surrendering just six points all match in his 6-4 6-4 win.
“I love playing Davis Cup with these guys,” the 24-year-old said.
“We’ve had some great memories. We’ve had some tough memories together, we’ve had some really good ones.
“This is one of my favourite weeks of the year. I love playing, I love team sports.
“So coming together with some of these guys is a lot of fun.
“I love the camaraderie. I love the chemistry. We all genuinely enjoy each other’s company. It’s genuine.
“You see a lot of these other guys, I think they’re not as comfortable around some of their teammates, but we all love each other, we go to dinners, we’re brothers.
“I love being back in the team.”