Thanasi Kokkinakis marked his return to the Australian Davis Cup team in perfect fashion by clinching the decisive fifth match against Hungary's Zsombor Piros 6-4 6-4 at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney on Saturday.
Australia will now contest a third consecutive Davis Cup Finals, with the group stage scheduled for September. Lleyton Hewitt's side reached the quarter-finals in 2019 before falling in the group stage last year in Turin.
Kokkinakis, who has enjoyed a stellar start to the year with his first ATP singles title, a doubles triumph at the Australian Open and now a winning return to Davis Cup, was delighted with how he handled the pressure after a seven-year hiatus.
"I couldn't have asked for more to start the year," he said in the interview on court. "Davis Cup is so different. In the singles tournaments, ATPs, it feels like you're playing for yourself but here it feels like you've got the whole country backing you and supporting you," said Kokkinakis.
He further said, "It's a different kind of pressure, but it's something that if we want to play how we want to play on the big stage, we have to get used to. But having the support is unreal so to play it at home is sick."
The victory was actually only Kokkinakis' second live singles win in Davis Cup - and his first since he defeated Dan Evans in a dead rubber the last time that he played in the competition in a semi-final against Great Britain in 2015.
Earlier in the day, Hungary had edged ahead 2-1 in the tie after Fabian Maroszan and Mate Valkusz pulled off a surprise 6-4 6-4 win against John Peers and Luke Saville.
That meant Australia had to win both the remaining singles matches to book their place in the year-end Davis Cup Finals. Aussie No. 1 Alex de Minaur stepped up with an impressive 7-6(4) 6-4 victory against Marton Fucsovics to set the scene for Kokkinakis to shine.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor