Australia eased into the Davis Cup final for the second successive year with a ruthless, efficient 2-0 win over Finland on Friday evening in Málaga.
In the opening rubber, Alexei Popyrin produced his first live Davis Cup win, steadying his nerves through an extremely tense opening set before beating Otto Virtanen 7-6 (5), 6-2. Alex de Minaur then closed out the tie with an excellent performance, defeating Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-3 to take Australia back to the final.
“You don’t take anything for granted in Davis Cup,” said Lleyton Hewitt, Australia’s Davis Cup captain. “It doesn’t matter the format. So we knew coming here every match was going to be extremely tough. You only have a day to prepare for your next opponents, as well, which isn’t easy.”
As was the case in Finland’s opening tie, the large Finnish expat community in the surrounding area ensured that their presence was felt in the José María Martín Carpena Arena as they filled out the stands in their thousands, bellowing their chants right until the end. Their energy was particularly effective against Popyrin as he struggled to control his nerves in the opening set. When it mattered, though, the Australian found his powerful first serve and subdued Virtanen with his greater weaponry, earning the landmark win under immense pressure.
“It’s nerves that I have never experienced before in my life, the nerves playing the first tie, the first rubber of a Davis Cup, winning my first live rubber of a Davis Cup,” said Popyrin. “I just had to keep my head steady and just really focus on my serve and try to capitalise on opportunities when they came.”
Finland’s presence in the semi-finals has been a shock in itself, but an even greater surprise was the team upsetting defending champions Canada without their No 1 player, Ruusuvuori, who sat out the tie with a shoulder injury. It was clear that against Australia, though, a win would be nearly impossible without their only top-150 singles player. Ruusuvuori’s shoulder had recovered enough for him to compete but he could not serve at full power.
Over their 95 minutes, De Minaur worked Ruusuvuori around the court with his depth, defence and willingness to take on short balls and control the point from inside the baseline. Ultimately, De Minaur’s consistency separated the pair, and the Australian continued the best year of his career by leading his team to another final.
“For me at least that match was a little bit of a relief,” said De Minaur. “Extreme, extreme team effort, again, as Lleyton said. Alexei coming out, not having played for Australia in three to four years, coming out to play a semi-final against a guy that’s ranked 170 but plays like a top-50 player and came out with a huge, huge win.”
After losing to Canada in last year’s final, Australia will attempt to go one better against either Italy or Serbia this time around.
“Just really proud of the boys and their efforts,” said Hewitt. “No matter who we play on Sunday, it’s going to be a bloody tough task, but once again, we’ll go out there and leave absolutely everything we’ve got on the court.”
