24 September 2024 | tennis.com.au with AAP

Alexei Popyrin will spearhead the same five-man Davis Cup party that battled through the group stage earlier this month in Australia’s daunting quarter-final against the United States in November.

Should Hewitt’s men come past that obstacle holders Italy, led by world No.1 Jannik Sinner, is in line to bar their path to a third successive final.

Jordan Thompson, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden make up Australia’s quintet for the Malaga climax, with the team keen to end a drought that now dates back more than two decades to 2003, when current team captain Hewitt was playing.

> READ MORE: Australia qualifies for November’s Davis Cup Final 8

It is a strong unit, with Popyrin – an ATP Masters 1000 champion in Montreal and Novak Djokovic’s vanquisher at the US Open – and Thompson both ranked in the top 30 while Purcell and Ebden are Grand Slam doubles winners respectively ranked fifth and eighth in the world. There are still hopes singles world No.11 De Minaur could return.

“He’s going to do everything to get back as quickly as possible,” Hewitt said last week, adding the pair was still working through a recovery schedule.

https://twitter.com/DavisCup/status/1838322699011264620

Bob Bryan’s US quintet features three top-20 singles players: Taylor Fritz (world No.7), Tommy Paul (No.13) and Ben Shelton (No.17) plus two top-30 doubles players Rajeev Ram (No.10) and Austin Krajicek (No.28).

The attention of the wider world may be on the other half of the draw as Spain has named both Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, raising the prospect they may reprise their Paris Olympics ‘Nadalcaraz’ partnership, though captain David Ferrer also has world doubles No.1 Marcel Granollers in his selection.

> READ MORE: Popyrin victorious in Australia’s narrow Davis Cup loss to Spain

AUSTRALIAN SQUAD (for Davis Cup Finals, Malaga, Spain, 19-24 November): Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Max Purcell, Matthew Ebden. Captain: Lleyton Hewitt.

Quarterfinals: Australia v United States, Italy v Argentina, Spain v Netherlands, Canada v Germany.