MALAGA, Spain — Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis emerged from a tight-as-can-be tiebreaker by saving four match points and eventually converting his seventh to get past Ben Shelton 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (14) in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Thursday, before Taylor Fritz pulled the United States even by defeating Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4.
On an indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain, the 77th-ranked Kokkinakis withstood 21 aces from Shelton, a big-serving left-hander who is ranked 21st and reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2023.
That was followed by U.S. Open runner-up Fritz’s far more straightforward victory over No. 9 de Minaur.
Those two singles results meant the best-of-three quarterfinal would be decided by doubles, with Shelton heading back on court to team with Tommy Paul for the U.S. against Paris Olympics gold medalist Matt Ebden and Jordan Thompson. The Shelton-Paul duo was a surprising, last-minute substitution for Summer Games silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
The Americans own a record 32 Davis Cup championships but haven’t reached the semifinals since 2018 and haven’t claimed the title since 2007, their longest drought in the team competition. Australia, a 28-time champion, was the runner-up the past two years.
The U.S. and Australia are the two winningest countries in the event.
Whichever advances will take on defending champion Italy — which is led by No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner — or Argentina on Saturday.
The other semifinal, to be contested Friday, is the Netherlands against Germany. The Dutch eliminated Rafael Nadal and Spain in the quarterfinals, sending the 22-time Grand Slam champion into retirement.
When Thursday’s opening match finally ended, on a backhand by Shelton that landed long, Kokkinakis dropped onto his back and pounded his chest. After he rose, he threw a ball into the stands, then walked over to Australia’s sideline, spiked his racket and yelled, before hugging captain Lleyton Hewitt.
“I don’t know if I’ve been that pumped up in my life. I wanted that for my team,” said Kokkinakis, who won the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles title with Nick Kyrgios. “It could have gone either way, but I kept my nerve.”
One key stat: Shelton finished with 29 unforced errors in his Davis Cup debut, nearly twice as many as the 15 by Kokkinakis.
After a strong hold at love in an opening game that included a 139 mph (224 kph) ace and a trio of service winners, Shelton lost his way completely, losing 12 of his next 16 service points and six games in a row overall. That set ended with Shelton double-faulting when he was cited for a foot fault.
But he broke to open the second set and soon the match was far more competitive.
“Once I got going, I thought I found a really good groove,” Shelton said. “I didn’t exactly like how I finished the match at the end. I thought I left a little bit on the table.”
Fritz won nine of his 10 service games against de Minaur and dealt just fine with a quick turnaround after reaching the title match at the ATP Finals on Sunday in Turin, Italy, before losing to Sinner.
Fritz flew to Spain the next day, then practiced Tuesday and Wednesday. He also lost to Sinner in the U.S. Open final in September, the first time an American man made it to the last day of any Grand Slam singles tournament since 2009.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
