At the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga on Friday, Alex de Minaur outran Marin Cilic to give Australia a thrilling comeback win over Croatia in the semifinal match.

After Borna Coric had earlier defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis. De Minaur dominated his singles match against Cilic, breaking the World No. 17’s serve four times for a 6-2. 6-2 victory that tied the match at 1-1. Then, in the doubles round, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson put on an incredible serving performance against Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic to give their country a 2-1 victory and clinch its first trip to the Davis Cup final since 2003.

After his team’s triumph, Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt remarked. “It’s been a while.” We are an extremely proud Davis Cup country, no doubt about it. I’m absolutely ecstatic for these young men because they merit the chance to compete in the Davis Cup final. Which will now take place on Sunday.

Hewitt participated in his nation’s previous Davis Cup final appearance, a triumph against Spain in Melbourne in 2003. In the final on Sunday, Australia will either play Italy or Canada in an effort to win the Davis Cup for the 29th consecutive time.

In a boisterous setting in southern Spain, Purcell and Thompson defeated 14-time tour-level champions Mektic and Pavic 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4 without being broken once. After Coric had previously pushed Croatia ahead with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Kokkinakis, that win sealed the comeback victory.

After his and Thompson’s thrilling two-hour, 14-minute triumph, Purcell exclaimed, “There’s nothing like it, honestly, there’s nothing like it. “That was the nicest experience I’ve ever had. I’ll do anything for the green and gold.

Thompson said, “We were [just] holding serve.” “I believe we accomplished it successfully.

The opportunities weren’t coming, but we persisted, and ultimately we did receive a few, which we seized each time on the first try. Doubles are subject to rapid alteration, which it did.

What will the Davis Cup Finals look like in 2022?

From September 13 to 18, four cities—Bologna, Glasgow, Hamburg, and Valencia—hosted the 2022 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals group stage. In four round-robin groups of four teams, sixteen nations competed. Each group’s top two teams advanced to the knockout round. This week’s knockout round is being held in Malaga, and the championship game will be held on Sunday.