Key posts
Order of play in Sydney
Here’s a quick rundown on what’s happening in Sydney today
From 10:30am: Czechia v Norway – Sydney
- Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Malene Helgo (NOR) (Muchova def. Helgo 6-2, 6-2)
- Tomas Machac (CZE) v Casper Ruud (NOR)
- Muchov and Machac (CZE) v Ulrikke Eikeri and Ruud (NOR)
Karolina Muchova and Malene Helgo shake hands at the net.Credit: Edwina Pickles
From 5:30pm: Italy v Switzerland – Sydney
- Flavio Cobolli (ITA) v Dominic Stricker (SUI)
- Jasmine Paolini (ITA) v Belinda Bencic (SUI)
- Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori (ITA) v Bencic and Stricker (SUI)
Czechia takes the lead with Muchova win
Karolina Muchova has secured a 1-0 lead for Czechia, with a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win over Norway’s Malene Helgo.
It was all over in only an hour and 16 mins, but up next for Norway in the men’s singles is world No. 6 Casper Ruud, who will be looking to even the tie when he takes on Czechia’s Tomas Machac, who is ranked 25th in the world.
Karolina Muchova defeats Malene Helgo.Credit: Getty Images
Updates from Perth
The time difference doesn’t make it easy to keep up with the night sessions in Perth, so here’s a quick rundown on what happened last night in the West.
Team Canada claimed a 2-1 victory over Croatia to surge to the top of group A.
Lelylah Fernandez had a straight sets victory over Croatia’s Donna Vekic, before Borna Coric caused an upset when he defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime in three sets, but the Canadian duo were able to get the upper-hand in the mixed doubles.
Leylah Fernandez and Felix Auger-Aliassime of team Canada.Credit: AP
Canada next play team USA tonight from 8pm AEDT, and that will be electric. First up is Fernandez taking on world No. 3 Coco Gauff, before Auger-Aliassime plays world No. 4 Taylor Fritz.
Team Greece were also on court last night, and they had a 2-1 victory over Spain after Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari won the mixed doubles decider. Tsitsipas won his match earlier in the day against Pablo Carreno Busta, while Sakkari suffered a surprise loss to Jessica Bouzas Meneiro.
‘We’ll give ourselves every chance’: Hewitt
What happened to team Australia?
In case you missed it, team Australia had a bit of a hiccup last night against Argentina.
Olivia Gadecki went down in straight sets to Nadia Podoroska, but Alex de Minaur got the team back in the fight with a comfortable victory against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Team captain Lleyton Hewitt offers some words of wisdom to Olivia Gadecki.Credit: AP
It was up to duo Ellen Perez and Matt Ebden in the mixed doubles to get Australia over the line, a task which was well within their capabilities, but they also went down in straight sets to Etcheverry and Maria Lourdes Carle.
It was a shock upset for the home side, who now have the tough task of clawing their way back into the competition when they face Great Britain on New Year’s Day…it won’t be easy.
Welcome
Good morning from sunny Sydney!
Billie Eder and Josefine Ganko here at Ken Rosewall arena to take you through all the tennis on offer across Sydney, Perth and Brisbane today.
First up we have Czechia and Norway, where Karolina Muchova has just taken the first set 6-2 against Malene Helgo.
Updates from that match and much more soon.
Karolina Muchova in the first set against Malene Helgo.Credit: AP
