A resurgent Wayne Arthurs overcame Austrian number one Jurgen Melzer 7-6 6-2 6-4 yesterday to give Australia a commanding 2-0 lead in their Davis Cup World Group first round tie.
Oozing confidence since capturing his first career title in Arizona last weekend, the 33-year-old Arthurs battled through a tight first set and then raced away from an error-prone Melzer to score an unexpectedly easy win in two hours.
In the opening singles rubber, world number two Lleyton Hewitt, playing in his first match since losing the Australian Open final to Marat Safin in January, outclassed Alexander Peya 6-2 6-3 6-4 to put the hosts ahead.
Australia can close out the tie in today's doubles, when Arthurs will team with the nation's most successful doubles player Todd Woodbridge against Peya and Julian Knowle.
A quarter-final against either Argentina or the Czech Republic awaits the winners of the tie.
"It's a relief to be 2-0, a very handy position," Australia captain John Fitzgerald said.
Arthurs used his powerful serve to great effect against Melzer, which in turn put pressure on the Austrian and produced a string of mistakes in the second and third sets.
Austrian captain Thomas Muster admitted his team had hoped Melzer would be able to beat 63rd-ranked Arthurs but said he was not disappointed despite being one match away from defeat.
"I sort of expected a win from Jurgen but we have to accept that Wayne played a great match," Muster said.
Arthurs described his win as second only to his victory over Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov on his Davis Cup debut in 1999.
The Australian is in a rich vein of form after beating Croatia's Mario Ancic in the Arizona final and Melzer in Memphis on February 16.
Hewitt had little trouble against Peya, playing in just his third Davis Cup singles match, and easily secured his 26th Davis Cup singles win from 31 matches.
Moldova beat Malta 3-0
Malta lost their first Davis Cup Euro/African Zone - Group IV qualifier on Thursday when they were beaten 3-0 by Moldova.
Marcus Delicata lost to Evghenii Plugariov 6-0 6-1; Daniel Ceross lost to Andrei Ciumac 6-2 6-1 and in the doubles Matthew Asciak and Delicata were beaten by Serghei Cuptov/Artiom Podgainii 6-3 6-7 6-1.
Malta are playing in Group A at the Lugogo Tennis Club clay courts in Kampala, Uganda.
The other teams in the group are Botswana, Djibouti and Benin.
World Group results
Slovakia vs Spain 2-0; Switzerland vs Holland 0-2; Australia vs Austria 2-0; Argentina vs Czech Republic 2-0; Russia vs Chile 1-1; France vs Sweden 1-1; Romania vs Belarus 1-1; US vs Croatia - late.
Dubai Open WTA tournament SFs - Davenport bt Schnyder 4-6
7-5 6-1; Jankovic bt Serena Williams 6-0 4-3 (retired - arm injury).