John Millman’s second comeback win in two days has seen Australia qualifity for this year’s Davis Cup Finals.
After going 2-0 up against Brazil at Memorial Drive in Adelaide, Brazil claimed the doubles rubber with Marcelo Demoliner and Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves defeating James Duckworth and John Peers 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6) in the opening match of the second day.
Needing to win just one of the three matches to progress to the Davis Cup Finals, it was left to Millman to finish off the tie against Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro.
Like he did against teenager Thiago Seyboth Wild on Friday, Millman lost the opening set but eventually prevailed 6-7, (6), 7-6 (3) 7-6 in a tight and tense affair on Saturday to book Australia’s spot in November’s finals in Madrid and win the tie 3-1.
“I always believed,” Millman said post-match.
“The body was a little sore; the emotion levels were perhaps a little bit down at times - it’s tough to be up the whole time.
“But that is when you have really got to use your bench and use the experience that is Lleyton Hewitt and Tony Roche...they dragged me up when I was nearly down.”
Australia will be looking to better their result in the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, where they were knocked out by Canada in the quarter finals.
Lleyton Hewitt’s team were missing both Nick Kyrgios and Alex De Minaur, who were left out due to injury.