AUSTRALIA has kick-started its Davis Cup mission to go one better with a third straight year of beating France. The Aussies took until the deciding set of the doubles to get the job done, but were able to see out the match and win 2-1 in the opening group stage match of the 2024 tournament in Valencia.

Having finished runner-up the past two year, Australia is gunning to finally step up from being the bridesmaid to the bride, though was dealt a tough Group B. Along with France, the Aussies also have to deal with Spain and Czech Republic, both of whom have quality players across the board.

In the three-match tie, it all came down to the doubles which saw Max Purcell – fresh off his US Open major with Jordan Thompson over the weekend – joining back up with world number three Matthew Ebden as the pair outfoxed French duo, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

In a momentum-swinging match, the Aussies took out the first set 7-5 and had a match point in the second set, only for France to hold and then win the last three games of that set to level that match. Quick to bounce back, Ebden and Purcell quickly raced out to a 3-0 lead and had a couple of break points to go 4-0 and essentially seal the match.

However the French held their nerve and their service game. The remaining service games went the way of the server until the Aussies were 5-3 up in the last game with Purcell serving for the match. The usually calm Purcell – who had held his last service game to love – found himself 0-30 down with just his team’s second double fault for the match, and then a break point against at 30-40.

But as all good doubles pairings do, the duo manoeuvred their way out of it to get back to 30-30 before Purcell’s serve returned. Hitting an unplayable bullet on one side then signing off with a huge ace on the other, Australia was able to finally celebrate after getting the win 7-5 5-7 6-3 in two hours and 15 minutes.

Ebden and Purcell won 78 per cent of their first serve points and produced a massive 16 aces – mostly off Purcell’s racquet – to hit the French off the court at times. Though treading the line did allow the opposition to get back into it, some crucial missed volleys at the net by Roger-Vasselin – one such one at 30-40 when Purcell directed a body shot at him having rallied with Herbert down the line for an extended period of time – handed Australia the relieving deuce.

In a match where both doubles pairs were generally able to serve well – just two and one break respectively – it was the Australians who were more economical, hitting 20 less unforced errors (17-37) which was ultimately the difference.

The reason the doubles had been required to determine the match was following a pair of upsets in the earlier singles. Australia got off to the perfect start when Thanasi Kokkinakis – who was filling in for the injured Alex de Minaur – took down talented Frenchman Arthur Fils in two tiebreakers.

Both players only broke once in the two-hour and nine-minute match, with Kokkinakis winning 68 per cent of his first serve and 57 per cent of his second serve, while stepping up in clutch points. The match could have gone either way, but went the way of the underdog.

“Arthur is a great player, he’s going to be leading the French team for a while, so I knew it was a tough challenge,” Kokkinakis said. “I just tried to hang in there and I think I played steady on the big moments. There wasn’t much in it.

“Obviously we’ve got a lot of options and great depth at the moment, so I still wasn’t sure if I’d get the call-up. “I’m happy that Lleyton trusted me to go in there and do the job.”

In the second singles, the red-hot Alexei Popyrin would have been favoured over the talented yet inconsistent Ugo Humbert, but the Frenchman produced an all-time performance to completely dismantle Popyrin – who won his first Masters 1000 tournament last month and reached a US Open fourth round.

Humbert won 6-3 6-2 in just 71 minutes, collecting 80 per cent of his first serve points, hitting 16 winners to five, and only producing 19 unforced errors to 16. Humbert’s play forced Popyrin to make mistakes which allowed the 17th ranked Frenchman to win rather easily and force the deciding doubles.

“He played some inspired tennis and didn’t let me into the match,” Popyrin said. “I felt like he was reading every single serve. Whether I slowed it down or sped it up, he was on it. When you play someone like that, who is painting the lines and reading your weapons, it’s quite difficult.”

AUSTRALIA (2) defeated FRANCE (1)

Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) defeated Arthur Fils (FRA) 7-6 7-6
Ugo Humbery (FRA) defeated Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 6-3 6-2
M. Ebden/M. Purcell (AUS) defeated P. Herbert/E. Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 7-5 5-7 6-3

AROUND THE WORLD

Over in Manchester, Canada got past a tricky Argentinian tie to win 2-1 and start its campaign off on the right note. Being on hard court, the pairing of Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime proved too good for Francisco Cerundolo and Sebastian Baez respectively, both winning in straight sets for their singles matches. However, Argentina kept itself in contention with a bounce-back victory in the doubles.

In the only Asian-located match over in China, Germany showed no Alexander Zverev, no worries with a sweep of Slovakia. German singles duo Maximilian Marterer and Yannick Hanfmann did not have it easy but managed to defeat Lukas Klein and Jozef Kovalik respectively, before the star German doubles pair of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz ensured the nation swept the weakest nation in Group C.