Perth: Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione put Australia back in the top-tier Davis Cup World Group for 2015 after beating Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in doubles on Saturday to give the host an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Australia, led by captain and former Davis Cup stalwart Pat Rafter, did not drop a set over the three matches. Nick Kyrgios beat Istomin 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 on Friday, followed by Hewitt defeating Dustov 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on grass courts at the Cottesloe Tennis Club.
Neither Hewitt nor Guccione dropped their serve Saturday on their way to their sixth win as a Davis Cup doubles pairing. The Australians broke Istomin’s serve in the second game of the match and were never troubled as they closed out the opening set in just 29 minutes and with Guccione conceding just one point from his booming serve.
“We are complete opposite game styles, personalities, everything, in a lot of ways, but we team up really well and we know what we’re going to get from one another on the court,” Hewitt said. “We don’t play a lot of doubles together, but I feel in these one-off matches we gel pretty well.”
The reverse singles, now best-of-three, are scheduled for Sunday. Both teams are likely to feature mostly secondary players.
Australia lost to France in the first round of World Group play this year, its first appearance in the World Group since 2007. Australia has 29 Davis Cup wins, second only to the United States’ 32.
Australia will find out next week who they will play in next year’s opening round of the World Group. Uzbekistan, which has yet to qualify for the World Group in six attempts, will return to the Asia/Oceania zone group in 2015.
