Hewitt, Guccione give Aussies 2-0 lead over Thais

TOWNSVILLE—Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione powered Australia to a 2-0 lead over Thailand with contrasting Davis Cup wins here Friday.
Hewitt, the former world number but now ranked 21, dropped just one game in crushing Cup novice Kirati Siributwong, ranked 978, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1.
The former Wimbledon and US Open champion put the icing on the cake for the 28-time winners of the team event after Guccione extinguished the challenge of Thailand’s top player Danai Udomchoke in a five-set marathon.
The big-serving left-hander battled for more than three-and-a-half hours before sealing a 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 victory.
The Australians need to win one more match from the doubles on Saturday and Sunday’s two reverse singles matches to win the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I second round tie and progress to a playoff in September for entry to the World Group in 2009.
Hewitt is the most successful singles player in Australian Davis Cup history and lifted his record to 32 singles wins.
Kirati never stood a chance against the merciless Hewitt, who reeled off a straight-sets victory in just over 80 minutes.
“He was obviously going to be nervous and it was a matter of me trying to stamp my authority on the match early and I was able to do that,” Hewitt said.
“Obviously, my body’s holding up well enough to play singles so I should be right for doubles.”
Guccione, ranked 67, nailed 25 aces and had to come from behind and fight off three match points in a tense fourth-set tiebreaker to prevail over the 204th-ranked Danai.
“I’ve had two wins in five sets in Davis Cup now. It’s a great feeling, especially being so close to defeat there in the fourth set,” Guccione said.—Agencies