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Kyrgios, Hewitt put Australia in control

Getty

Getty

Rising teenager Nick Kyrgios and Lleyton Hewitt have both won their Davis Cup singles matches against Uzbekistan to give Australia a 2-0 lead in the World Group play-off at Cottesloe Tennis Club.

Kyrgios proved too good for Denis Istomin in the opening singles rubber, winning 6-4 7-5 6-4 in just over two hours.

Cottesloe provided the picturesque setting for the tie but the grass court was slow with low bounce and an uneven baseline which didn’t leave either country happy, but Kyrgios handled it much better and gave Australia the one-nil lead.

Australia’s top-ranked player Hewitt then defeated world No.133 Farrukh Dustov in straight sets 6-4 6-4 6-2.

Hewitt was victorious despite dropping the first three games of the second set. From there he won 12 of the last 15 games.

Despite not being happy with the slow, low and uneven surface on the grass, and with a sore left arm, Kyrgios was satisfied to get the result on debut for Australia.

“I actually wasn’t serving great today at all but I slowed down the speed and was still able to dictate play off my first serve, and I thought I returned really well and neutralised his best serves,” Kyrgios said.

“Obviously he wasn’t feeling 100 per cent. But I’m far from that as well and I stayed out there, competed and got the job done.”

Istomin was troubled by a hip complaint and that wasn’t helped with the low-bouncing court leaving him unsure if he will he able to play doubles on Saturday or the reverse singles on Sunday.

“I felt a little bit of tightness before but I wasn’t thinking it was so bad,” Istomin said.

“I started and the ball was bouncing so low, and I had to go down further than normal and game by game it was getting worse and worse. I started to feel it in the middle of the first set and also I couldn’t serve faster so I was serving 150 or 160 so it’s not easy to play with this.”

The doubles will take place on Saturday with Hewitt expected to team with Chris Guccione against Uzbekistan’s Istomin and Dustov with the chance to wrap up the tie.

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