Fifty-six minutes, one set dropped to nobody
Alex de Minaur opened Australia’s Davis Cup tie against Poland earlier today with a 6-3 6-0 win over Maks Kasnikowski at Pat Rafter Arena. It took 56 minutes.
He fired two aces in the opening game and started attacking the Kasnikowski serve immediately, converting his second break point in the fourth game to lead 3-1. Kasnikowski saved two set points serving at 2-5 but could do nothing about the next hold. First set gone in 35 minutes.
The second set collapsed faster. De Minaur broke in the opening game with a crosscourt backhand winner and took the remaining games without conceding one. The world No.9 was playing his first Davis Cup rubber of the year, two weeks after an early exit at the US Open.
Try it for $0.99.
Poland answer through Majchrzak
The lead lasted one match. Kamil Majchrzak beat James Duckworth in the second rubber to square the tie at 1-1 after day one. The doubles follows on Sunday, then the reverse singles, and Australia now need two of the remaining three.
Kasnikowski, 23, had never faced a top-10 player before. “I’m happy that I put up a fight in the first set,” he said. “In the second set, Alex increased the level a lot, and that was too much for me today.”
A ground de Minaur knows well
The Queensland Tennis Centre is where de Minaur made his Davis Cup debut in 2018 against Alexander Zverev, eight years ago almost to the month. He brought it up unprompted afterwards.
“As an Aussie, we play outside of Australia for 10 months of the year, so we don’t really get too many chances to play back here and in front of a packed crowd,” he said. “It was a great atmosphere and one that I’ve definitely missed.”
He also pointed at his serve as the thing holding the rest together. “When I’m able to get that nice rhythm on serve, it makes my life a whole lot easier, and I think it translates and elevates the rest of my game a lot more as well.”
Winning in Brisbane sends Australia back into the Davis Cup Qualifiers early next year, with a return to the Finals, absent since 2024, as the target behind that.
Discover the rest of our Tennis news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply