“Making selections are never easy,” Hewitt explained. “Thanasi played two incredible matches in Valencia for us only a couple months ago. We put him on ice until now and let him unleashed today. It’s not the normal schedule that a lot of players have but I kind of know how to work Thanasi, which is nice. Taylor Fritz played fantastic, obviously, against Alex. He’s very confident at the moment, coming off an incredible year at world No. 4. That was a tough one, but the boys had to light it up in live doubles, which is never easy.”
Paul and Shelton were late replacements to the equation, but the Aussies were undaunted, scoring the lone breaks in each set.
“We were expecting the other pair but we knew they have incredible players who can play doubles,” Ebden said on court. “We were ready, a slight adjustment, obviously, to more huge-serving singles players than the doubles craft, maybe. But it was just as big a challenge as any and out here, in the final live match, playing out here with Jordan was real fun. Following what Kokk did, unfortunately Alex went down, but it was so fun.”
The crucial break came in the penultimate game of the match, Ebden and Thompson navigating a marathon to convert their fourth break chance and put themselves a game from victory.
“When we got the break there at 4-4, I could have run over the whole bench!” joked Thompson, who won his first Masters 1000 title in doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open with Sebastian Korda back in May. “I always wear my heart on my sleeve and bleed green and gold.”
The Aussies now await the winners from the final quarterfinal tie between Italy and Argentina, with the semifinals to play out on Saturday.
