AS EXPECTED Australia has not had too many troubles in grabbing an early lead against Sweden in the 2025 Davis Cup Qualifiers First Round, racing out to a 2-0 advantage after the first day. The green and gold drew one of the weakest European nations in the opening round, and though they lost a few players from the initially named side to injury, still took complete control.

Top 10 talent Alex de Minaur got a little more than he bargained for against Swede Mikael Ymer – ranked 478th in the world but a former Top 50 talent – before running away with the contest in the second set to win, 7-5 6-1.

The Aussie only dropped 12 points on serve – including two double faults – with a 78 and 73 per cent success rate off his first and second serves, while going at a 55 per cent clip. Though his efficiency remains an area of concern, the world number eight did not face a break point throughout the match, and instead generated eight chances himself, converting four.

“It was a competitive match, a very tough match. Mikael played well, I knew he was going to be a very tough opponent, so I’m very happy I got the win for Australia,” de Minaur said post-match.

After he lead the nation to an early lead, Davis Cup debutant Aleksandar Vukic – who replaced Jordan Thompson in the squad – secured the win over Sweden’s number two player Leo Borg 6-4 6-4, doing what he had to do in a commanding performance.

Vukic won 80 per cent of his first serve points and was only broken once from five chances, while he broke Borg – the son of legend Bjorn – three times from the same amount of opportunities. Never really looking like losing, the 66th ranked Vukic just looked that class above against the 21-year-old 485th ranked Swede.

“Leo’s a very good player. He made it very tough, and it’s always tough to play in front of the opponent’s home crowd. A match that I’m very happy to win,” Vukic said.

“Alex did a great job before me, and hopefully we’ll just get some rest and recovery before the doubles guys try to do their thing.”

The lead has enabled Australia to move just one win away from victory in the tie, with day two seeing the doubles combination of Matthew Ebden and John Peers – who have won a combined $12 million USD – up against a Swedish duo of Andre Goransson and Filip Bergevi – who have a combined prizemoney of around $650,000 USD – to close out the tie.

Ebden is a former world number one doubles champion, with Peers a former world number two, while Goransson (career-high 48th) and Bergevi (116th) are considered heavy underdogs.

Following the potentially tie-deciding doubles, the reverse singles will take place, with de Minaur taking on Borg, and Vukic facing Ymer. Fellow Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis is also in Sweden but still nursing the collarbone injury that saw him hampered during the Australian Open.

AUSTRALIA (2) LEADS SWEDEN (0)

Alex de Minaur (AUS) defeated Mikael Ymer (SWE) 7-5 6-1
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) defeated Leo Borg (SWE) 6-4 6-4