Australia, Germany level after Davis Cup Day one

BRISBANE, Australia, Feb 2 (AFP): Australia and Germany finished the first day of their Davis Cup World Group tie in Brisbane one rubber apiece after Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev both won in vastly contrasting styles on Friday.

Zverev gave Germany the early advantage with a gruelling four-hour win over Alex de Minaur 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), before Kyrgios disposed of Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

The mercurial Kyrgios, who has responded well to the Davis Cup captaincy of Lleyton Hewitt, was in sublime touch against Struff. The German battled hard but he was a class below the Australian and succumbed in 97 minutes in front of a large and passionate crowd at the Pat Rafter Arena.

Kyrgios had Struff under pressure on serve throughout and broke once in each set for a straightforward win.

"He's a tough opponent to play against, he doesn't really give you any rhythm so I thought I did a good job of getting it done pretty quickly and giving myself the best chance to recover, Kyrgios said.

Earlier, Zverev outlasted de Minaur in a four-hour marathon.

The world number five had looked down and out when de Minaur, playing superb defensive tennis against the more attacking German, took a two sets to one lead.

But Zverev fought back to win the fourth set before recovering from an early break in the fifth to force a tiebreak. He then created a mini-break at 3-4 in the tiebreak and served superbly to take the match and give his country the early advantage.