Hewitt and Guccione hand Australia vital win

Updated September 16, 2012 15:16:45

Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione's doubles victory gave Australia a 2-1 lead over Germany on Sunday (AEST) in their Davis Cup World Group play-off to earn a key advantage going into the final day.

Australia is bidding to return to the World Group for the first time since 2007 while Germany must win to stay in the top tier after its opening-round home defeat to Argentina in February.

After Bernard Tomic and Florian Mayer won the first round of singles to make it 1-1, Hewitt and Guccione enjoyed a 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Benjamin Becker and Philipp Petzschner.

"I always knew it was going to be tough out there, we expected that from the start," Hewitt said.

"When you can look your partner in the eye in the locker room and know you are going to go into battle together, it is something I have really enjoyed with Chris.

"I feel like I can get the best out of him on the doubles court and it is a good belief to have when we are playing out there together."

In Sunday's final two rubbers, Mayer, ranked 25th in the world, plays teenager Tomic, while Hewitt is due to play 21-year-old Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

The Germans must win both singles matches to be sure of keeping their World Group status.

Guccione enjoyed his seventh straight doubles win for Australia in the Davis Cup and admitted he was surprised by his own record.

"When I play for my country and pull on the green and gold, it seems to bring out the best in me," said the left-hander ranked 567 in the world in singles, but 133 in doubles.

"I enjoy playing with Lleyton and there is nothing better than playing for my country."

Having clinched the first two sets, the Australian duo allowed their German hosts to establish themselves enough to take the third convincingly at Hamburg's clay-court Rothenbaum stadium.

A tight fourth set was only decided by a tie-breaker, but Hewitt, 31, and the 27-year-old Guccione held on to put their side ahead before Sunday's remaining final matches.

"They compliment each other well, but the Germans were coming back at the boys and fighting hard," said Australia team captain Pat Rafter.

"They were showing a good fighting spirit and we are happy it didn't go to a fifth set."

Elsewhere, the United States stayed alive in its Davis Cup semi-final against champions Spain while four-time runners-up Argentina lost its doubles clash as well as Juan Martin Del Potro against the Czech Republic.

Bob and Mike Bryan beat Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 on the clay courts of Gijon as the US cut the deficit to 2-1 against Spain.

The Olympic and US Open champions secured the crucial point which will mean the tie will be decided on Monday (AEST) with a place in November's final at stake.

Argentina's hopes of making the final suffered a double blow when they slipped 2-1 down to the Czechs and then lost Del Potro through injury.

Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek eased past Carlos Berlocq and Eduardo Schwank 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 at a shell-shocked Parque Roca to take their Davis Cup record to 11-1.

World number eight Del Potro withdrew from the reverse singles with a wrist injury.

He will be replaced by world number 45 Berlocq in the clash against US Open semi-finalist Berdych, the sixth-ranked player, before Juan Monaco is scheduled to tackle Stepanek.

In the play-offs, where victory assures a place in the World Group for 2013, the Netherlands stayed in contention against Switzerland in Amsterdam when Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer stunned Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Federer and Wawrinka, who were doubles gold medallists at the 2008 Olympic Games, had both won their singles on Friday to give the Swiss a 2-0 lead.

Belgium was promoted to the World Group after Olivier Rochus and Ruben Bemelmans beat Sweden's Michael Ryderstedt and Johan Brunstrom 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 for an unassailable 3-0 lead in Brussels.

The result means Sweden will not feature in the World Group for the first time since 2000.

Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram claimed a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win over Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita to give Israel a 2-1 lead over Japan in Tokyo.

Elsewhere, Italy leads Chile 2-1 in Naples and Kazakhstan is 2-1 up on Uzbekistan in Almaty.

Canada leads South Africa 2-1 in Montreal while Brazil wrapped up a 3-0 win over two-time champions Russia in Sao Jose do Rio Preto.

AFP

Tags: sport, tennis, germany, australia

First posted September 16, 2012 05:59:36

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Guccione out of Open wildcard event

Updated December 07, 2011 17:29:25

Tennis unknown John-Patrick Smith has pulled off one of the best wins of his brief career by beating Davis Cup player Chris Guccione in the first round of the Australian Open wildcard tournament.

Six months ago Smith did not have any sort of tennis ranking but six months from now, according to Davis Cup team manager Todd Woodbridge, Smith could be inside the world top 200.

Guccione, the fourth seed, went down to the Queensland US college graduate in straight sets, losing 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).

In the battle of the left-handers, Smith, 22, was able to quickly bring the towering Guccione's big serve under control and seized an early break.

He played steadily while the Victorian was plagued by unforced errors.

"I played well and served well and made sure I made a lot of returns, that was one of my goals, and I made him play a lot of balls," Smith said.

"He missed a few of his first serves early and I was able to get control of his second serve, which was a bit of a surprise."

Smith said he would not work out a schedule for 2012 until the end of this week but he said his ranking already was around number 440.

Woodbridge said Smith was one of the younger players Tennis Australia would be watching closely.

"He was unranked coming out of college but his ranking is moving very quickly and I wouldn't be surprised if in the next six months he wasn't in the top 200," Woodbridge said.

Earlier top seed New South Welshman Greg Jones eased into the second round with a straightforward 6-2, 6-3 victory over Queenslander Gavin Van Peperzeel.

And women's top seed Casey Dellacqua bounced back after her shock loss on the first day to beat Emelyn Starr, the eighth seed from New South Wales, 6-1, 6-1.

Dellacqua was the subject of a major upset in the first of her round-robin matches when she fell to 15-year-old Wimbledon junior champion Ashleigh Barty from Queensland.

Barty continued her march towards the semi-finals when she collected her second straight win, defeating New South Wales hopeful Stephanie Bengson 6-2, 6-4.

AAP

Tags: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted December 07, 2011 17:29:25

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Hewitt, Guccione win doubles

Published:Sunday, July 10, 2011 12:07 AEST

Lleyton Hewitt celebrates with Chris Guccione after the Australian doubles pairing beat China's Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe during day two of their Davis Cup tie on July 9, 2011 in Beijing.

Tags: sport, tennis, australia, china

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Hewitt, Guccione put Australia 2-1 up

Updated July 9, 2011 22:42:00

The serving power of Chris Guccione and returning prowess of Lleyton Hewitt earned Australia a crucial doubles victory and a 2-1 lead over China in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tennis tie in Beijing on Saturday.

With the first day singles split following a loss to debutant Marinko Matosevic and a win to Bernard Tomic, the doubles, played in front of a capacity crowd, was pivotal.

Hewitt and Guccione ultimately prevailed 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 over Gong Mao-Xin and and Li Zhe.

Left-hander Guccione remained unbroken for the entire match and served out each of the three sets, while Hewitt dropped his delivery just once in the first set.

Pugnacious Hewitt kept the Chinese pairing under constant pressure with his consistency on return of serve.

The Australians broke in the opening game of the match and staved off three break points on the Hewitt delivery in the fourth game.

The visiting pair secured the decisive break of the second set in the seventh game and took a stranglehold on the match with a further break in the fifth game of the third.

Australian captain Pat Rafter said he would wait to Sunday morning before deciding whether to use Hewitt in the reverse singles.

Hewitt has been troubled by a foot problem in recent months and Rafter wanted to see how his veteran pulled up on Sunday.

"He has had his problems with his feet and we have to see how he feels the next day, sometimes he is good, sometimes he is not," Rafter said of Hewitt.

The man himself was noncommittal about his potential involvement on Sunday.

"We make the right decision for our team and what's in the best interest of the team so you will find out tomorrow," Hewitt said.

If Hewitt does play it could be at the expense of Matosevic, who is scheduled to face Zhang Ze in the first of the reverse singles, with Tomic down to oppose Wu Di in the final rubber.

Hewitt felt Guccione and himself played well right from the start of the doubles.

"We took it to them, we had a very good game plan," Hewitt said.

"Chris and I play extremely well together and we have a lot of confidence in each other.

"We were pretty happy with the way we went today, our intensity was fantastic.

"Chris and I had to play a very clean and smart match to win today, which we did."

Guccione said the Australians were aware the Chinese combination had played together a lot.

"We needed to return well which Lleyton always does and it was good for me to get a bit of confidence up," Guccione said.

- AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, australia, china

First posted July 9, 2011 18:48:00

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