Alex de Minaur made up for his poor performance against Norway with an MVP showing against Czechia…
The 26-year-old came up short in his first match of the year, when De Minaur lost to Casper Ruud.
Luckily for De Minaur, his Australian teammates, Storm Hunter and John-Patrick Smith, helped Australia secure the win 2-1.
However, when Barbora Krejcikova beat Maya Joint to give Czechia a 1-0 lead in Australia’s second group stage tie, the pressure was on the world number six to deliver.
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Doing just that, De Minaur defeated Jakub Mensik, setting up a winner-takes-all, mixed doubles tie.
Advancing to the United Cup quarterfinals, De Minaur and Hunter dominated the Czech pair 6-2, 6-3.
Delighted with his team’s performance, Lleyton Hewitt shared his thoughts on Australia’s 2-1 win over Czechia in their post-match press conference.
Lleyton Hewitt says Alex de Minaur was ‘fantastic from start to finish’ in United Cup win
The Australian team captain was asked what pleased him the most about his side’s latest win.
“Oh, just the effort from the whole team,” said Hewitt.
“Coming out here, we knew we probably couldn’t finish the highest second-place team, so we had to win tonight.
“We had to somehow win two points. We were able to do that.
Group D final standings
| Position | Team | Ties W-L | Matches W-L | Sets W-L | Games W-L | Status |
| 1 | Australia | 2-0 | 4-2 | 8-5 (62%) | 59-49 (55%) | Qualified |
| 2 | Czechia | 1-1 | 4-2 | 8-4 (67%) | 61-54 (53%) | Qualified |
| 3 | Norway | 0-2 | 1-5 | 3-10 (23%) | 52-69 (43%) | Eliminated |
“It’s been a really good camaraderie with the whole team and the whole squad and everyone. It’s been a lot of fun this week.”
Hewitt then assessed the individual performances from Australia’s win against Czechia.
“Good to have Maya [Joint] back out there healthy tonight as well,” he said.
- Barbora Krejcikova (Czechia) defeated Maya Joint (Australia), 6-4, 6-1
“She’ll definitely be better for the outing tonight, as well.
“Then obviously Alex [de Minaur] had to step up and keep us in it.
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“Played a fantastic match from start to finish.
- Alex de Minaur (Australia) defeated Jakub Mensik (Czechia), 6-4, 6-1
“In the end, too tough mentally, which obviously helped him physically as the match went on.
“For him to back that up and play a great mixed doubles with Storm [Hunter]…
- Alex de Minaur/Storm Hunter (Australia) defeated Dalibor Svrcina/Miriam Skock (Czechia), 6-2, 6-3
“Good way to finish the round-robin.”
Australia now awaits the winners of Group F in the quarterfinals…
Who could Alex de Minaur and Australia play next?
With one match still to play, Poland and Germany are the two teams in contention to win Group F.
Group F standings
| Position | Team | Ties W-L | Matches W-L | Sets W-L | Games W-L |
| 1 | Poland | 1-0 | 3-0 | 6-1 (86%) | 40-29 (58%) |
| 2 | Germany | 1-1 | 3-3 | 7-6 (54%) | 66-54 (55%) |
| 3 | Netherlands | 0-1 | 0-3 | 0-6 (0%) | 14-37 (27%) |
However, after Poland’s dominant win over Germany on Monday, January 5, it would take an almighty collapse against the Netherlands for them to miss out on the top spot.
Therefore, Australia are highly likely to take on Poland in the quarterfinals, on Friday, January 9, in Sydney.
If that is to be the case, De Minaur would be expected to face Hubert Hurkacz, and Joint would take on Iga Swiatek.
While Hurkacz was mightily impressive against Alexander Zverev earlier in the tournament, De Minaur would still enter that match as the favorite.
He wouldn’t be anywhere near as favored as Swiatek would be against Joint, though.
The chances are that Poland versus Australia would require a mixed doubles decider.
That’s a few days away yet, but there’s plenty to look forward to as Australia continue their quest for a maiden United Cup title.
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