Millman the heroas Australia fight off Brazil

ADELAIDE: John Millman lifted Australia to a gritty 3-1 victory over Brazil with a tenacious win over Thiago Monteiro Saturday to qualify his country for the Davis Cup finals later this year.

Millman proved to be his team’s hero with a second fighting win in the singles wearing down Monteiro 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7-3) in three hours five minutes at Adelaide’s Memorial Drive.

The victory followed up his other come-from-behind win over Thiago Seyboth Wild in three sets in Friday’s singles.

Lleyton Hewitt’s Australians will now join 11 other qualifiers and the 2019 semi-finalists — Canada, Britain, Russia and Spain — along with wildcards France and Serbia for the Davis Cup finals in Spain in November.

Monteiro proved a tough obstacle with his big serves and powerful groundstrokes, taking the opening set in a tiebreaker but edged out in two more tiebreaks by Millman in a gruelling encounter.

Marcelo Demoliner and Felipe Meligeni Alves earlier kept Brazil alive in the tie with a gripping three-set win in the doubles.

Demoliner and Alves fought back to beat John Peers and James Duckworth 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) in almost three hours to pull Brazil back to trail 2-1.

The jubilant pair finally got Brazil home on their fifth match point after Australia saved four match points in a fluctuating final set tiebreaker. Demoliner and Alves had to win the doubles after Jordan Thompson and Millman won Friday’s opening singles to give Australia a commanding 2-0 lead.

Australia went into the home tie without Nick Kyrgios, sidelined with a wrist injury, while Alex De Minaur was a late withdrawal as he struggles to overcome an abdominal tear.