Australia’s tennis warriors have suffered Davis Cup despair, falling a set short of completing one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the 125-year-old competition.
A day after overcoming severe cramping to defy Alex de Minaur, unfancied world No.91 Raphael Collignon wore down late stand-in Aleksandar Vukic 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-3 in the deciding rubber to lead Belgium to a pulsating 3-2 second-round qualifying triumph in Sydney.
Tennis ironman: Belgium’s Raphael Collignon played a pivotal role.Credit: Getty Images for ITF
All up, the tennis ironman spent almost five and a half hours on court to break Australian hearts once more, after Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt – once engaged to Belgium’s former world No.1 Kim Clijsters – also featured in crushing 3-2 losses to the small European nation in 2007, 2010 and 2017.
With two bold selection calls from Hewitt, his all-Sydney outfit had looked set to become only the third Australian team in Davis Cup history to overturn a 2-0 deficit.
An inspired three-set doubles win from Jordan Thompson and Cup debutant Rinky Hijikata and redemption for de Minaur in Sunday’s first reverse singles rubber had levelled the tie.
Anguish: Australia’s Aleksander Vukic.Credit: Getty Images for ITF
De Minaur atoned for a shock first-day flop with a rousing 6-2 7-5 victory over Zizou Bergs to level the tie at 2-2, after Thompson and Hijikata recovered from the brink to pull off a tense 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 6-4 victory over Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen to keep Australia’s hopes alive.
Thrust into the deciding rubber after Hewitt opted to rest Thompson following his epic two-hour, 24-minute doubles showing, Vukic took the opening set from Collignon.
But in the form of his career, having arrived in Sydney after taking down two-time grand slam finalist and world No.12 Casper Ruud at this month’s US Open, Collignon could not be denied.