Alex de Minaur has atoned to force Australia’s thrilling second-round Davis Cup qualifier against Belgium to a deciding fifth rubber.
A day after flopping against world No 91 Raphael Collignon to leave Australia trailing 2-0 in the best-of-five match tie, De Minaur electrified Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena with a rousing 6-2 7-5 victory over Zizou Bergs.
The world No 8 and six-time grand slam quarter-finalist was a man on a mission, reeling off three straight service games and breaking his 46th-ranked rival twice late in the second set to lock up the tie at 2-2 in less than 90 minutes.
With the chance to secure only Australia’s third Davis Cup triumph in history from 2-0 down, fellow Sydneysider Jordan Thompson was slated to play Collignon in the second reverse singles match.
But captain Lleyton Hewitt had the option of instead playing Aleksandar Vukic and resting Thompson after the 31-year-old earlier on Sunday battled for almost two-and-a-half hours with Cup debutant Rinky Hijikata to reduce the deficit to 2-1 with a fighting three-set doubles win.
Thompson and Hijikata recovered from the brink to pull off a tense 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 6-4 victory over Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen to keep the tie alive.
The qualifier could have been all over had Thompson and Hijikata not rallied back from a set behind and three break points down at love-40 at 3-3 in the second.
Australia’s all-grand-slam-winning pairing drew a standing ovation from the packed crowd after conjuring their mighty comeback.
Runners-up in 2022 and 2023 and semi-finalists last year, Australia are bidding to reach the quarter-finals for a fourth straight campaign.
There was no wriggle room after De Minaur and Thompson lost their opening singles matches on Saturday.
The Belgian doubles duo were nigh on impenetrable on serve in the opening set against Thompson and Hijikata, barely dropping a point and conjuring the only break and set points.
Hijikata was under huge pressure staring down set point on serve after coughing up an untimely first double fault of the match and watching the left-handed Vliegen rifle two massive return winners.
The 2025 Wimbledon doubles runner-up rose to the challenge and then fired a booming forehand return down the line to give Australia their four set points in the tiebreaker.
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Alas, Hijikata and Thompson were unable to convert from 6-2 up as Belgium snatched the set to stun fans.
The home team was in dire trouble in the second set, when Hijikata fell love-40 down serving at 3-3, but staved off four break points to stay in the match – and the tie.
Riding the momentum shift, the Aussies broke the Belgians for a first time in the very next game to storm to a 5-3 lead as both stars nailed groundstroke winners after some pulsating rallies.
In a match full of twists and turns, Thompson had to fend off two break points before Hijikata finally put Australia back on level terms with a piercing forehand volley on their fourth set point.
Thompson fell to the court such was the ferocity of a forehand that drew the Belgian error for Australia to seize the decisive break in the third game of the deciding set.
He was quickly up, chest-bumping and sprinting to the changeover in delight.
Two more service holds each from Thompson and Hijikata were enough as Australia finally prevailed after two hours and 24 minutes of tense action.
