Davis Cup Finals: Taylor Fritz hoists USA back into contention with De Minaur victory after shock Shelton loss

Taylor Fritz has hoisted USA back into contention with their usual team of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram now needing to win to stay in the tournament in the doubles decider against Australia at the Davis Cup Finals.

Fritz was coming into a tricky spot as USA were 1-0 down and with Alex de Minaur being his opponent, it is a top 10 star joining him on the court. But the American who reached the final in Turin showed his form again.

He beat De Minaur for the second consecutive week, this time easier on a faster court 6-3, 6-4 and now it goes all the way to the final game. This after Ben Shelton couldn't step up for the USA and in reality their captain will be thinking Tommy Paul perhaps should have got the call but hindsight is a wonderful thing and now it will be relying on the top doubles tandem.

Thanasi Kokkinakis was an interesting late choice by Lleyton Hewitt but it was one that paid off in a dramatic tie-break win. He saved four match points and finally converted his seventh in a thrilling tie-break winning 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(14) to put his country ahead initially.

Kokkinakis has now won all three of his Davis Cup matches this season and has repaid the faith shown to him by Lleyton Hewitt. He won twice as many points as Shelton in the opening set restricting him to just 46% of first serve points won. He hit only one unforced error and dropped only one point on serve and broke Shelton three times.

Shelton was a lot better in the second set as he started with a spring in his step but in the decider both players were forced to save break points in the opening games. From there, quick holds were the name of the game as Shelton carved out a break point only at the end at 5-5. Kokkinakis saved it with an ace though and it went all the way to a tie-break. Kokkinakis won the fine margins as he prevailed after both missed multiple match points.