Malaga, Spain, 22 November 2022 | Leigh Rogers

Australia is one of eight nations to advance to the knock-out stage of the 2022 Davis Cup Finals, which take place in Spain this week.

The Australian team faces the Netherlands in a do-or-die quarterfinal showdown at Malaga tonight.

After a productive training week in France, Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt said his team was ready for the challenge of facing the Netherlands.

“The biggest thing is we put the team first. It’s much bigger than an individual event and to win these kind of events, it really does take a team effort,” Hewitt said.

Alex de Minaur is leading the Aussie charge. The 23-year-old boasts an unbeaten record in the competition this season, winning all four singles matches he has played to help Australia reach this stage.

> READ: De Minaur – “Davis Cup has always been a great passion”

Australia has won ties against Hungary, Belgium and France so far this season, with their only loss to host nation Germany in the round-robin stage of the competition at Hamburg in September. By finishing second in Group C, Australia still progressed to the quarterfinals.

The Netherlands finished atop of a strong Group D during the round-robin stage of the finals in September, winning ties against the United States, Kazakhstan and host nation Great Britain in Glasgow.

Botic Van de Zandschulp played a starring role for the Dutch team, beating top 20-ranked opponents Taylor Fritz and Cameron Norrie.

The Dutch team also has an experienced doubles pair, led by world No.1 Wesley Koolhof.

“It’s going to be tough,” admits Hewitt. “I was so impressed with how they played in Glasgow. I think they’ve got a great team culture. Most of their team play their best tennis in this format when they play for their country as well, which is always dangerous.

“You know in Davis Cup, so much of the rankings get thrown out the window. So we’ve just got to prepare as well as possible for our matches. I’ve done a lot of scouting on their team as well, so I feel like I know what to expect. But we’ve just got to get our guys right and get them to go out there and hopefully execute what they need to get the result.”

This is the first meeting between Australia and the Netherlands in the Davis Cup competition. The Dutch team is aiming to progress to the semifinals for only the second time in their nation’s history and for the first time since 2001.

The Australian team is aiming to advance to the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time since 2017 and for only the third time in the past 15 years.

The 2022 Davis Cup Finals are broadcast live on the Nine Network in Australia, with coverage beginning from 2am AEDT (Wednesday 23 November).

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