Shelton, the world No. 21, had earlier come out on the wrong side of 30-point tiebreak against world No. 78 Thanasi Kokkinakis, falling to a 1-6, 6-4, 6-7 (14) defeat. Taylor Fritz, America’s top-ranked singles player and this year’s U.S. Open finalist, beat Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to force the deciding rubber.

U.S. Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan’s decision to make a last-second change to his doubles lineup against Australia did not work out