Australia has completed a 5-0 Davis Cup sweep of its Asia/Oceania group one tie against China, with debutant Matt Ebden and the recycled Chris Guccione today claiming the reverse singles rubbers in straight sets at the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club.
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Australia's next opponent is South Korea, at home in April, on a surface to be confirmed.
For Ebden, it was a satisfying debut after several years in the Davis Cup squad and the past two ties in captain Pat Rafter's four-man team.
The West Australian was substituted for Bernard Tomic in the first of the dead rubbers, and defeated world No.941 Ma Ya-Nan 6-4, 6-2.
"It's a great moment. Even though the guys have won the tie already, it's still very nice for me to start my Davis Cup career right here in Geelong," said Ebden, the national No.2.
"It's great to have Pat on the court and the Fanatics in the crowd, and playing for Australia is something really special. It's a great privilege for me to be able to play.
"I'm starting to become really comfortable and really find myself belonging here, and Pat's created a great team with the guys, and we all get on great, and it's a really good atmosphere with the team.
"So these are the best weeks of my year, and they were last year and the year before that, when I was in the squad, too, so I'm really happy to be a part of it."
Guccione, Lleyton Hewitt's replacement, then defeated Wu Di 6-2, 6-4 in the final match, to extend his contribution past yesterday's doubles victory with the former world No.1.
"It's always nice to play for Australia, and I haven't had a run in singles for quite some time, so it's good to win for Australia, and also in singles," Guccione said.
Rafter said Australia had justified its favouritism on its intended path back into the world group for the first time since 2007, and was pleased to have given Ebden a taste of what is likely to lie ahead.
"We needed to throw Matt in there, because there's always that potential he could play this year and it was really good being on the court with him," said the dual US Open champion.
"He really wants to listen, so then I was probably talking too much, in a way, but I'm trying to get an understanding of him; it was more of like an experiment in a way.
"I probably wouldn't normally talk that much, but it was sort of just trying to analyse the game and analyse his feelings, so that when I sit beside him another time I get that sense of what he's up to, and where his head's at.
"And trying to develop his game, trying to get him to step out of his comfort zone and play the shots that's required to take that next step up, so that's the one thing that we were trying to work on today."
