PARIS: Australia were in a rush on the opening day of the Davis Cup finals group phase on Tuesday with Jason Kubler and Alex de Minaur paving the way for a 3-0 win over Belgium.

Newcomer Jason Kubler battled past 134th-ranked Zizou Bergs 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the opening Group ‘C’ tie in Hamburg, Germany.

Trailing 1-3 in the third set after dropping the second, 97th-ranked Kubler reeled of five consecutive games to earn the first point for Australia.

“I’m over the moon that I was able to deliver today but we may not have been in this position if it were not for Jason Kubler who came out on his debut and pulled a rabbit out of the hat,” said de Minaur.

“He played with passion and pride and showed everything that Davis Cup is about. He got the win which gave us a 1-0 lead which I thought was huge.”

De Minaur got the winning point for the 28-time Davis Cup champions after beating David Goffin 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and six minutes.

Goffin, ranked 62, a Davis Cup finalist in 2015 and 2017, has never beaten 22nd-ranked Minaur in their four meetings.

Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell teamed up in the doubles to see off Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-1, 6-3.

The Germans open their Group ‘C’ campaign against France on Wednesday before also facing Belgium and Australia.

In Group ‘A’, the Ymer brothers led Sweden to victory over Argentina in Bologna.

Elias Ymer defeated Sebastián Báez 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), while his younger brother Mikael Ymer later comfortably beat No. 17 Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-2.

The Argentines scored their lone point with Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos defeating Andre Goransson and Elias Ymer 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles.

“I’m very happy because we weren’t favorites in this group with teams like Argentina, Croatia and Italy,” Elias Ymer said. ”This victory is worth double.”

In Group ‘B’ in Valencia, Canada took a lead against Davis Cup Finals newcomers South Korea after Vasek Pospisil rallied to defeat Hong Seong-Chan 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), but Soonwoo Kwon evened the tie with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.

In the deciding doubles, Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil defeated Song Min-Kyu and Jisung Nam 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 to give Canada the point.

In Group ‘D’ in Glasgow, the Netherlands defeated Kazakhstan 2-0 after Tallon Griekspoor beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and Botic van de Zandschulp beat Alexander Bublik 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

In the last-16 group phase, nations play two singles matches and then a doubles in a best of three format.

The top two teams in the Davis Cup group matches progress to the last eight in Malaga from November 22-27.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2022