Australia are through to their first Davis Cup final in 19 years after defeating last year’s runner-up Croatia in Malaga, Spain.
Lleyton Hewitt’s side recovered from the brink of elimination to win the deciding doubles tie for a 2-1 win after the team’ split the singles contests.
Borna Coric put Croatia ahead by beating Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 6-3 despite the Australian firing 11 aces past the Croat.
With pressure on him to save his side, Alex de Minaur rose to the occasion to beat former US Open winner Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-2 to send the contest into the deciding doubles.
Cilic once again struggled with double faults, committing 10 in total, but unlike against Spain, could not recover against a more seasoned opponent.
Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson then sealed the win with a 6-7(3) 7-5 6-4 come-from-behind victory over the pair of Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic who are both ranked inside the top-10 in world rankings for doubles.
Despite being against the superior pair, Purcell and Thompson combined for 13 aces, broke the Croats twice, and never dropped a service game to come back after losing the first-set tiebreaker.
Croatia, who finished up as the runner-up last year, were looking for their 3rd Davis Cup title while Australia will have the opportunity to add their 29th title after last winning it in 2003.
Either Canada or Italy will join the Aussies in the final on Sunday.
