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Thanasi Kokkinakis saved four match points and won the longest tiebreak at theDavis Cup since 2019 to beat Ben Shelton 6-1 4-6 7-6(14) in two hours and 17 minutes to give his side the lead before Taylor Fritz hit back for the United States and levelled the contest with a clinical 6-3 6-4 defeat of Alex de Minaur in just 69 minutes.

US captain Bob Bryan then made a surprising late switch to his doubles line-up, bringing in Shelton and Tommy Paul in place of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek.

Lleyton Hewitt, on the other hand, stuck with Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson and they got the job done with a 6-4 6-4 victory.

Australia will face defending champion Italy for a spot in the final.

The victory represents a landmark moment for Australia as it’s the first time that De Minaur has played and lost a match, but the team has still gone on to win the tie. In previous years, De Minaur’s form has dictated how his side would perform, and Hewitt knows that being able to get more victories from his No. 2 singles player is an important evolution for his team. He made a bold choice selecting Kokkinakis over Alexei Popyrin, who is ranked more than 50 spots ahead of him.

“We have relied on Alex and what he's been able to do in Davis Cup an awful lot”, Hewitt said. “It’s nice that we could repay the favour today for him.

“Me and the rest of the team know what Thanasi's level is like, and if we can get him going out there and playing at his highest level, he's dangerous for anybody. I don't care who it is. I had full belief in him. He was hitting it a treat all week leading in. He got what he deserved. He put a very tough training block in for usto get that win today, which was important.”