MELBOURNE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Australia slumped to their worst Davis Cup result under long-serving captain Lleyton Hewitt, suffering a 3-1 humiliation away to lowly Ecuador in the first round of qualifiers on Sunday.
With Australia's number one Alex De Minaur opting out of the tie in Quito, the 28-times champions crashed out when Rinky Hijikata and Jordan Thompson were beaten 7-6(5) 6-4 by Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo in the decisive doubles rubber.
Lacking a player in the top 200, Ecuador set
up their unlikely triumph on home clay by claiming both the opening singles rubbers on Saturday.
Alvaro Guillen Meza downed Hijikata in three sets before 257th-ranked Andres Andrade shocked world number 86 James Duckworth, also in three.
Ecuador next face Britain in the second round of qualifiers in September.
With De Minaur leading the charge, Australia reached back-to-back finals in 2022-23 and the semi-finals in 2024.
However, the Ecuador shock continues the team's decline following their failure to reach the eight-nation Finals in 2025, Hewitt's 10th year in charge.
India's Dhakshineswar Suresh won both his singles matches and partnered Yuki Bhambri to victory in the doubles as India beat Netherlands 3-2 in Bengaluru.
The 25-year-old held his nerve under immense pressure in the final rubber against Guy de Ouden to win 6-4 7-6 (4) and guide India to the second round of qualifiers for the first time since the new Davis Cup format began in 2019.
“It’s just a different feeling when you’re playing for your country,” Suresh, who has a world ranking of 470, told the Davis Cup website after the win. “You are not playing for yourself, you’re playing for the whole nation."
India meet South Korea in the next round in September after the Koreans defeated Argentina 3-2. The United States beat Hungary 4-0 while Britain also secured a 4-0 win over Norway and Canada beat Brazil 3-2.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Peter Rutherford)
