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Aussies beat Colombia in Davis Cup opener

Alex de Minaur, right, pictured with team captain Lleyton Hewitt, has helped Australia over the line against Colombia.

Alex de Minaur, right, pictured with team captain Lleyton Hewitt, has helped Australia over the line against Colombia. Photo: Getty

Nick Kyrgios has declared Australia can win the Davis Cup after comfortably seeing off Colombia in Madrid.

Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur cruised to straight-sets victories over Alejandro Gonzalez and Daniel Galan respectively to open up an unassailable 2-0 lead.

World No.18 de Minaur blew away Galan 6-3 6-2, a day after the world No.193 took Belgian world No.11 David Goffin to three sets in the opening tie in Group D.

A zoned-in Kyrgios earlier produced a powerful display against an overmatched but gallant opponent who is ranked 468th in the world, winning 6-4 6-4.

Gonzalez was a late inclusion for the match after Santiago Giraldo, who played Belgium’s Steve Darcis on Monday, was rested.

Kyrgios, who was lauded for his attitude around the squad this week by team captain Lleyton Hewitt, showed none of his histrionics, leaving the underarm serves and tweeners in the locker in his first match for Australia since February 2018.

The 24-year-old was imperious on serve, hurling down 16 aces and dropping only one point off his serve in the opening set and five in the second.

Kyrgios wrapped up the win in just more than an hour in front of a crowd loudly dominated by Colombian fans, then declared he is feeling in great condition.

“I haven’t played that much in the past couple of months but I took time off to get ready for this event,” Kyrgios said on-court after the win.

“It was good. Davis Cup ties are never easy and rankings go out of the window. We saw a couple of upsets yesterday.

“I think we can win it for sure. The way that Alex is playing and I know I can beat every single person in this competition.

“We have a great doubles player in John Peers and Jordan (Thompson) can play singles or doubles.

“Then we have great energy guys like John Millman so we have good depth. I think our chemistry compared to the other teams is up there.

“It’s early days but we are delighted with the win.”

De Minaur echoed Kyrgios’s confidence but acknowledged the team had bigger tests to come.

“I am very happy with how the team has performed today,” de Minaur said.

“It is never easy the first tie, there is always those extra nerves that you wouldn’t have if you are playing for yourself.

“You are playing for your teammates and the whole country and I am very happy that Nick and I were able to come out and get the wins.

“We have a strong team with a lot of options but we will need to put together a lot of very good tennis over the week if we want to go all the way.”

Australia can wrap up a 3-0 win in the doubles clash between Peers and Thompson against the world No.1 pairing of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal who won their match against Belgium.

-AAP

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