Lleyton Hewitt has rolled back the years alongside John Peers to beat Austria’s Jurgen Melzer and Oliver Marach 6-2 6-4 3-6 7-5 and keep alive Australia’s hopes in the Davis Cup playoff in Graz.
Team captain Hewitt, playing in his 80th match in the green and gold, 19 years after making his debut, nominated himself ahead of the struggling Jordan Thompson who’d originally been slated to partner Peers.
Australia’s top-ranked player John Millman, who’s been struggling with illness following his US Open quarter-final, sat in as temporary courtside skipper at the Messe Grand complex.
Thompson, who’s endured a tough year that’s seen him lose his world top 100 ranking, was demolished by Austrian clay king Dominic Thiem in Friday’s opening rubber.
With Alex de Minaur’s shock defeat to Dennis Novak, a player ranked 99 places below him, in the second tie, Saturday’s doubles clash was a must-win for the visitors.
Hewitt and Peers broke the Austrians twice in the first four games to steamroll their way through the opening set and an early break of Melzer’s serve helped them take out the second.
But roared on by a noisy 6000-strong home crowd, Austria hit back to take the the third set following a marathon point at 3-1 on the Marach serve that produced 11 deuces and saw the hosts save eight break points.
The fourth set was a close affair with both teams holding serve until the Peers crunched a forehand winner to break Marach and seal the win.
De Minaur now faces the daunting prospect of taking on Thiem, widely regarded as the heir apparent to Rafael Nadal’s king of clay crown in the opening reverse singles rubber on Sunday.
World No.8 Thiem dropped just four games in his 95-minute dismantling of Thompson and beat de Minuaur comfortably in their only previous meeting in the first round of the US Open last year.
However, Hewitt may opt to play the in-form and more experienced Millman who is full of confidence following his stunning win over Roger Federer at Flushing Meadows.
Should the second match go Australia’s way Thompson will get the chance to redeem himself against world No.133 Novak in the decider.
The winner of the tie will be seeded for the qualifying round of the revamped Davis Cup in February.
