Nick Kyrgios has declared Australia can win the Davis Cup after Lleyton Hewitt’s team comfortably saw off Colombia 3-0 in Madrid. Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur cruised to straight-sets victories over Alejandro González and Daniel Galán respectively to open up an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Those victories were followed up by an impressive doubles win by John Peers and Jordan Thompson who beat world No 1 duo Robert Farah and Juan Sebastián Cabal – the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions.

Great Britain get into Madrid spirit as they prepare for revamped Davis Cup Read more

The Australian pair wasted a match point at 5-4 and then saved three in the tiebreak before closing out a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) victory.

World No 18 de Minaur blew away Galán 6-3, 6-2, a day after the world No 193 took Belgian world No 11 David Goffin to three sets in the opening Group D tie. A zoned-in Kyrgios earlier on Tuesday produced a powerful display against an overmatched but gallant opponent, winning 6-4 6-4.

González was a late inclusion after Santiago Giraldo, who played Belgium’s Steve Darcis on Monday, was deemed unfit to play.

Kyrgios, who was lauded for his attitude around the squad this week by team captain Lleyton Hewitt, showed none of his histrionics, leaving the underarm serves and tweeners in the locker in his first match for Australia since February 2018.

The 24-year-old was imperious on serve, hurling down 16 aces and dropping only one point off his serve in the opening set and five in the second. Kyrgios wrapped up the win in just more than an hour in front of a crowd loudly dominated by Colombian fans, then declared he is feeling in great condition.

“I haven’t played that much in the past couple of months but I took time off to get ready for this event,” Kyrgios said on-court after the win. “It was good. Davis Cup ties are never easy and rankings go out of the window. We saw a couple of upsets yesterday.

Quick guide The new Davis Cup – how it works Show Hide Eighteen nations are split into six groups of three. Group winners and two best-placed runners-up go into the quarter-finals on Thursday and Friday. The final is on Sunday. Each tie, on the hard courts of Caja Mágica in Madrid, comprises two singles and one doubles rubber. Group A France, Serbia, Japan

Group B Croatia, Spain, Russia

Group C Argentina, Germany, Chile

Group D Belgium, Australia, Colombia

Group E Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Netherlands

Group F USA, Italy, Canada Schedule

Mon

Croatia v Russia

Italy v Canada

Belgium v Colombia

Tue

Argentina v Chile

France v Japan

Kazakhstan v Netherlands

Spain v Russia

USA v Canada

Australia v Colombia

Wed

Serbia v Japan

Argentina v Germany

Great Britain v Netherlands

Croatia v Spain

USA v Italy

Belgium v Australia

Thu am

France v Serbia

Germany v Chile

Great Britain v Kazakhstan

Thu 5pm/Fri 10am/Fri 5pm

Quarter-finals

Sat 10am/5pm

Semi-finals

Sun 5pm

Final

“I think we can win it for sure. The way that Alex is playing and I know I can beat every single person in this competition. “We have a great doubles player in John Peers and Jordan [Thompson] can play singles or doubles. Then we have great energy guys like John Millman so we have good depth. I think our chemistry compared to the other teams is up there. It’s early days but we are delighted with the win.”

De Minaur echoed Kyrgios’s confidence but acknowledged the team had bigger tests to come. “I am very happy with how the team has performed today,” De Minaur said. “It is never easy the first tie, there is always those extra nerves that you wouldn’t have if you are playing for yourself.

“You are playing for your teammates and the whole country and I am very happy that Nick and I were able to come out and get the wins. We have a strong team with a lot of options but we will need to put together a lot of very good tennis over the week if we want to go all the way.”