Beijing, China, 9 July 2011 | Tennis Australia

Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione have put Australia ahead 2-1 in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Asia Oceania Round Two tie in Beijing.

A passionate display by the Aussies saw the pair ride over Chinese Maoxin Gong and Zhe Li 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Between Guccione’s big serves and Hewitt’s returning powers, the Chinese combination were unable to stem the determination of the visiting nation, who have seized the advantage in this tie.

Now leading 2-1 overall, Australia is set to start with Bernard Tomic in Sunday’s reverse singles against Di Wu. Australian Davis Cup captain Patrick Rafter said he would wait until Sunday morning to see if Hewitt’s foot was able to carry him into the second reverse singles.

“We will wait and see how Lleyton feels tomorrow,” Rafter said. “He has had this problem with his feet and we have to see how he feels the next day, sometimes he is good sometimes he is not, so we will have to wait and see.”

Hewitt said he and Guccione had a game plan and executed beautifully. “Chris and I play extremely well together and we have a lot of confidence in each other, we were pretty happy with the way we went today, our intensity was fantastic,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt said he loved playing in China, having achieved the world No.1 ranking in 2002.

“Always great to come back to China and play I’ve got very good memories of winning the Masters Cup and reclaiming the No 1 ranking in 2002.”

Saturday
Lleyton Hewitt/Chris Guccione d Maoxin Gong and Zhe Li 6-4 6-4 6-4

Friday
Bernard Tomic d Zhang Ze 6-3 5-7 6-4 6-4.
Di Wu d Marinko Matosevic 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-4

Follow the Aussie team’s progress as they tackle China in their must win Davis Cup tie in Beijing.

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