Australia beats Czech Republic, advances to Davis Cup semifinals

Field Level Media|published: Wed 22nd November, 18:43 2023

Sep 4, 2023; Flushing, NY, USA; Alex de Minaur of Australia hits to Daniil Medvedev on day eight of the 2023 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. credits: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

Alex de Minaur rallied from a first-set loss to beat Jiri Lehecka 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 in a singles match, helping Australia past the Czech Republic, 2-1, in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday in Malaga, Spain.

The Czech Republic's Tomas Machac defeated Jordan Thompson 6-4, 7-5 in the opening singles match, then de Minaur did his part with the victory over Lehecka.

de Minaur came back from being down 5-3 in the second set to get to a tiebreaker, and he broke Lehecka's serve at 5-5 in the third set to surge to the win. de Minaur saved five of eight break points and recorded 25 winners for the match. Lehecka finished with 35 winners.

The decisive doubles match went Australia's way in straight sets, as Wimbledon doubles champions Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell downed Lehecka and Adam Pavlasek 6-4, 7-5.

Australia advanced to Friday's semifinals, where it will play Finland, which defeated defending champion Canada 2-1 on Tuesday.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will be in action on Thursday when he leads the Serbian team in the quarterfinals against Great Britain, while the Netherlands faces Italy.

—Field Level Media