Great Britain made a winning start to their 2024 United Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory over hosts Australia in Group C.
Men's number one Cameron Norrie recovered from a second-set blip to triumph 6-4 2-6 7-6[2] over Alex de Minaur, whose partner Katie Boulter sealed victory for GB by seeing off Alja Tomljanovic 6-2 6-4.
Boulter and Neal Skupski then joined forces for a mixed doubles encounter against Matthew Ebden and Storm Hunter, who restored parity for Australia by prevailing 6-3 7-6[5].
Norrie had put De Minaur to the sword in the group phase of last year's United Cup, but the Australian had gained revenge with a straight-sets win at August's Canadian Open to lead 2-1 in the head-to-head series.
However, Norrie broke De Minaur's serve in the opening game and stormed to a first-set success thanks to a quartet of aces, but the Australian came back with a vengeance in the second, winning four games on the spin to force a decider.
A tense third set saw Norrie crucially save a break point in the sixth game before a dominant tie-breaker display, in which De Minaur double-faulted on the first of four match points for the world number 18.
De Minaur's girlfriend Boulter sought the couples bragging rights as she met Tomljanovic in the day's second encounter, 18 months on from their first meeting at the Nottingham Open, where the Australian triumphed in straight sets.
However, a 234-place chasm now separates British number one Boulter from the 290th-ranked Tomljanovic in the standings, and the former made light work of the 30-year-old with victory in 93 minutes.
Boulter earned the double break straight off the bat - while also recovering from a 40-0 deficit on serve in the second game - and sealed the first set with a love hold before laying down an early marker in the second.
After immediately establishing a two-game advantage, the 27-year-old dug incredibly deep once again to save three break points in the sixth game, and as was the case in the opener, a love hold did the trick for Boulter in the final game.
GB's win was therefore rubber-stamped before Skupski and Boulter took on Ebden and Hunter, who denied their conquerors a perfect 3-0 success with victory in one hour and 22 minutes.
Ebden and Hunter broke in the fifth and ninth games of an impressive first set - in which 100% of their first serves found the mark - before being taken to a pivotal tie-breaker, in which they squandered one match point before getting the job done at the second attempt.
Leading the way at the top of Group C, GB can seal a place in the quarter-finals during Sunday's clash with the USA, where Boulter opens against world number five Jessica Pegula before Norrie battles Taylor Fritz. body check tags ::
