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Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt has heaped praise on his team's never-say-die attitude after the host nation secured a United Cup quarterfinal berth.
- Alex de Minaur beat Taylor Fritz in the men's singles rubber
- Ajla Tomljanović lost to Jessica Pegula in straight sets
- Matt Ebden and Storm Hunter won the mixed doubles rubber
Alex de Minaur kicked off Monday night's tie against defending champions USA with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 win over world number 10 Taylor Fritz.
Ajla Tomljanović's 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 loss to world number five Jessica Pegula levelled proceedings, meaning the tie would come down to the mixed doubles.
Complicating matters for Australia was the fact it needed to win the mixed doubles in straight sets in order to top its group, which also featured Great Britain.
Doubles pairing Matt Ebden and Storm Hunter got the job done, defeating Pegula and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-1.
Australia's hopes of reaching the quarterfinals looked shot after losing to Great Britain 2-1 on Friday.
"They (Australia) played fantastic, it was great," Hewitt said after the win over the USA.
"I'm very proud. It was backs against the wall after our first match.
"They left everything out there. It bodes well for Wednesday night."
Loading...De Minaur's on-court movement throughout his match against Fritz was superb, while the world number 12's sliced backhand also proved to be a major weapon.
"I'm just trying to show out there that I can do a lot more things than just run side to side," de Minaur said.
"I've got a couple of things up my pocket. I have to try to bring them out more."
Returning star Tomljanović was broken early in the women's singles rubber, but she rebounded strongly and was on the cusp of winning the first set.
Pegula kept her nerve to fend off three set points and she took her own chances when they presented by converting four of her six break-point chances.
In contrast, Tomljanović only converted three of 11 break points.
Despite not getting the win, it was a much better performance from Tomljanović compared to her 6-2, 6-4 loss to Great Britain's Katie Boulter on Friday night.
"I'm not going to lie, Friday really kind of put me down," Tomljanović said.
"I really thought my level wasn't there.
"But coming out today and putting up a good fight, and even though I didn't win, I felt like I had so many chances."
AAP