Australia secured a 4-1 win over Ecuador in Perth today in their Davis Cup second-round tie on the grass of Royal Kings Park.
World number six Lleyton Hewitt, 19, defeated Nicolas Lapentti, 24, ranked 25th, in the first match in the reverse singles clashes to win the tie for the home country.
Patrick Rafter beat Giovanni Lapentti in a ‘dead’ singles rubber that was cut to the best of three sets.
Hewitt beat Lapentti with unexpected ease 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in 82 minutes, while Rafter, 11th in the world, needed only 51 minutes to dispose of Gionanni Lapentti, ranked 927th, 6-3, 6-1.
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Australia, runners-up to Spain in last year's Davis Cup, now meet Brazil in Rio de Janeiro from April 6-8. AFP