[news] Australia close out Great Britain with a 4-1 result
Australia close out Great Britain with a 4-1 result
Australia is now waiting to see if its quarterfinal opponent in the 2003
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is Sweden or Brazil. Australia closed out a 4-1
victory over Great Britain to be the first nation into the quarterfinals
of this year's competition.
Great Britain was able to salvage some pride when Alex Bogdanovic won the
last reverse singles, which was a dead rubber. He defeated Todd Woodbridge,
who replaced Mark Philippoussis, 62 76. Earlier, Wayne Arthurs, who came in
for Lleyton Hewitt, defeated Miles Maclagan, a replacement for an injured
Alan Mackin, 46 61 64.
"Any win is a good one, I think," said Australian Davis Cup captain John
Fitzgerald. "There are no two ways to look at it. If you get over the line
that's the main objective of the weekend. I think it was a closer tie than
the results might show, but a convincing win nonetheless...and probably one
where we were on a little bit of a hiding to nothing, because of the strength
of our team on paper and the Brits missing their two highest ranked players.
We're very pleased overall with the result."
Fitzgerald was reluctant to name any one player as a standout for the weekend
and said they all contributed and "were all very capable when it counted".
Should Australia play Sweden then that tie in April will be away, and if
they play Brazil, then Australia will be the hosts.
"We played Sweden in the semifinals 18 months ago in Sydney. It will be a
tough match because they are a traditional Davis Cup nation and they rise
to the occasion in this competition. They play as a team always and they
have a lot of history in recent times. They have a winning culture, so they
are always going to be difficult to beat," said Fitzgerald.
There is no risk that the Australian contingent won't be competitive but
there is certainly lots of tennis yet to be played between now and then.
The last time Australia played Brazil was an amazing tie they played in
Florianapolis, Gustavo Kuerten's hometown. The strong betting is that if
the Brazilians travel to Australia the tie will be played on a different
surface to the red clay used in Sydney against Great Britain. As Fitzgerald
put it there is a "strong chance that we would play on a surface of a
different colour ... very, very likely to be a natural surface of a green
colour". It would fit in well because the venue which is the front
runner is Royal King's Park in Perth, Western Australia.
"Playing at home always a better option and, when you play at home, it
makes a big difference in Davis Cup. The home court advantage is significant,"
added Fitzgerald. "The team is fully committed, round by round. We have got
off to a great start.
"We had to win one last September to get into the World Group again and we've
got off to a flyer here. It augurs well for the rest of the year but, heck,
it's a long way to get to the final of a Davis Cup and so many variables can
happen so it's no point looking too far ahead."
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