The world No.8, in his first outing since his quarter-final drubbing by Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open, had to subdue a confident return to action by Mikael Ymer before running away to a 7-5 6-1 victory on Friday (Saturday AEDT).
Prevailing in the first rubber of the two-day, best-of-five tie, de Minaur's 16th Davis Cup singles win gave Lleyton Hewitt's injury-ravaged side the perfect lift-off, silencing the noisy full house in the Swedish capital's Royal Tennis Hall,.
The Demon strikes in Stockholm 😈— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) Alex de Minaur powers through the second set to take the match 7-5 6-1 🙌#DavisCup pic.twitter.com/MXCsHgohu9January 31, 2025
"Look, It was a competitive match, a very tough match. Mikael played well, I knew he was going to be a very tough opponent, so I'm very happy I got the win for Australia, put a win on the board," de Minaur told the crowd.
Debutant Aleksandar Vukic was later set to play Leo Borg, son of Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg, in the final rubber of the day.Â
It ended up a straightforward win for 'Demon' on the quick indoor hard court but he had his hands full early on with Ymer, a former top-50 player who's returning after serving an 18-month ban for an anti-doping violation and was coming off an ITF tournament triumph last week in Luxembourg.
The 26-year-old matched de Minaur shot for shot in the opening set - one rally won by the Australian went on for 41 strokes - with neither man earning even the sniff of a break in the first 10 games.
We thought this was never going to end 🤯— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) What a rally between Alex de Minaur and Mikael Ymer �#DavisCup pic.twitter.com/pzZWjInj1xJanuary 31, 2025
But de Minaur, who'd lost his previous three singles in the Davis Cup, stepped up perfectly, reeling off eight straight points with relentlessly deep hitting to take the 51-minute set and two more points immediately at the start of the second to set up another break.
Ymer battled steadfastly but eventually had to surrender a double break as de Minaur then went on to make it six games in a row and reel off the victory against his tiring opponent in one hour 27 minutes.
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