A late withdrawal from Rafael Nadal proved no hindrance for Spain, as Roberto Bautista Agut sealed victory over Australia in a three-set defeat of Alex De Minaur at the ATP Cup on Tuesday night.
Hours before the tie was due to begin on Rod Laver Arena, Nadal announced on Twitter he required more time to rest a stiff back.
Such was the depth in the Spanish team, world No.16 Pablo Carreno Busta was called in and duly delivered, 6-2 6-4 over John Millman in the opening rubber.
Elevated to the No.1 spot, 13th-ranked Bautista Agut then overcame a 0-2 record and a slow start against De Minaur to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead, 4-6 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 21 minutes.
The Spaniard improved his flawless ATP Cup record to 7-0.
“Everyone knows Alex. He’s a great fighter, a great player, he just came from winning a tournament so he was confident,” Bautista Agut said.
“It took me a little while to find the rhythm of the match. I just wanted to fight when I was 5-1 down in the first set, trying to get the rhythm, the speed of the court.
“Always a little bit more nervous the first match of the season. I fought well, I got the rhythm and finished the match playing very well.”
Carreno Busta earlier needed just 78 minutes to secure his fourth victory from five meetings with Millman.
The 29-year-old rarely looked troubled and admitted even he was surprised at his first-match form when called up as a substitute for Nadal.
“Obviously it is tough when you are one of the best players in the world, but you have two better players in your team,” Carreno Busta said.
“This is really tough to play after the quarantine, first match of the season. I feel more comfortable than I can imagine.”
Carreno Busta and Marcel Granollers secured the 3-0 sweep for Spain with a 6-4 7-5 doubles win over Australian pair John Peers and Luke Saville.
Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev were in formidable form as they handed Russia an unbeatable 2-0 lead over Argentina on John Cain Arena.
Rublev started 2020 on a tear when he won titles in Doha and Adelaide before a fourth-round run at the Australian Open.
On Tuesday night, he again hit the ground running to start his season as he swept aside Guido Pella 6-1 6-2 in an hour.
In a top-10 showdown, world No.4 Medvedev landed his sixth triumph from as many meetings in a 7-5 6-3 triumph over No.9 Diego Schwartzman.
Argentina's doubles pairing of Horacio Zeballos and Maximo Gonzalez later defeated Rublev and Aslan Karatsev 6-4 7-6(4).
Earlier on Tuesday, Novak Djokovic’s unbeaten ATP Cup streak grew to 10, following Serbia’s come-from-behind victory over Canada.
It was a less triumphant start to the season for world No.3 Dominic Thiem, who lost both rubbers in Austria’s 2-1 defeat to Italy.
World No.1 Djokovic was exemplary in first edging Denis Shapovalov before teaming with Filip Krajinovic to clinch the deciding doubles rubber over Shapovalov and Milos Raonic.
Serbia claimed the inaugural ATP Cup last year, and again drew on the 17-time major winner to dig the team out of a hole after Dusan Lajovic had dropped the opening rubber on Rod Laver Arena to Raonic 6-3 6-4.
In a closely-contested affair lasting just shy of two hours, Djokovic had Shapovalov’s measure for the second year running and for the sixth time in as many meetings, 7-5 7-5.
“It was a very close match,” Djokovic said. “Playing ‘Shapo’ is always a great challenge on hard courts – he’s such a dynamic, explosive player, very talented, there’s a great future ahead of him, that’s for sure.
“We both played at a pretty high level so I’m really pleased with how I started the season.”
In the deciding doubles rubber, the Serbs again proved stronger at the business end of each set to secure the tie 7-5 7-6(4).
The Canadians won three deciding-point deuce games to stay with their opponents in the second set, but were unable to force the match tiebreak from 4-all in the tiebreak.
“It was a hard day,” Krajinovic said. “They played really well. They have an unbelievable serve, Raonic and Shapovalov, they’re both very talented and good players but I think we played this doubles a little bit better. With Novak, it’s always a pleasure to play.”
In Thiem’s first tour-level match on Australian soil since becoming a Grand Slam champion, the world No.3 struggled to find his rhythm as Matteo Berrettini pulled off a career-best win, 6-2 6-4.
The Italian world No.10 had three matches under his belt at the Antalya Open before arriving in Australia, and looked sharper throughout for his third win from five encounters with the Austrian.
“Definitely it’s really important for everybody, especially for me,” Berrettini said of gaining match-play leading in.
“Last year I didn’t play a lot of matches so it’s important to play as many as we can, especially if I play a great player like Dominic … I was really sad last year. I was injured and I saw the atmosphere in all the cities across Australia, so this year I wanted to be here. Playing for your country is something special.”
Berrettini finished with an impressive 22 winners to Thiem’s seven, and was subsequently substituted into the live doubles rubber.
He and Fabio Fognini combined to see off Thiem and Dennis Novak 6-1 6-4.
US Open champion Thiem missed a golden opportunity to secure the tie for Austria, following 100th-ranked teammate Novak’s earlier 6-3 6-2 upset of Fognini.