Thanasi Kokkinakis emerged from a tight-as-can-be tiebreaker by saving four match points and eventually converting his seventh to get past Ben Shelton 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (14) and give Australia a 1-0 lead over the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.
On an indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain, the 77th-ranked Kokkinakis withstood 21 aces from Shelton, a big-serving left-hander who is ranked 21st and reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2023.
