(Málaga) Tomas Machac (78th in the world) brought the first point to the Czech Republic against Australia, outgoing finalist, by beating Jordan Thompson (56th) 6-4, 7-5 after a fight of almost two hours, Tuesday in Malaga in the Davis Cup quarter-final.
Machac took Thompson’s serve straight away to break away 2-0. Despite the few opportunities the Australian had to come back, he maintained his serve lead until the end and won the first set.
In an even tighter second set, where the two men went blow for blow, it was necessary to wait 4-4 for the first break points to appear: 5 in favor of Machac, who transformed the fifth to lead 5- 4 with his service to follow.
But Thompson immediately resumed the break, forcing Machac to score another break before finally winning 6-4, 7-5 after a 1 hour 54 minute standoff.
The second singles between the Czech Republic of the irremovable captain Jaroslav Navratil – 66 years old, in post since 2007 – and Australia led by the ex-N. 1 world Lleyton Hewitt will pit Czech Jiri Lehecka (31st) against Alex de Minaur (12th).
The winner of this quarter-final will meet Finland, who eliminated defending champion Canada on Tuesday, for a place in the final.