Lleyton Hewitt crushed Mehdi Tahiri 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 on Friday to claim one of the proudest records in Australian tennis and give his country a commanding 2-0 lead over Morocco in their Davis Cup World Group playoff.
Hewitt cruised to victory in less than an hour and a half to leave Australia in control of the relegation tie at Perth's Royal Kings Park after Wayne Arthurs beat Mounir El Aarej 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the opening singles match.
Hewitt's win was his 25th in Davis Cup singles, eclipsing Adrian Quist's Australian record of 24, established in the 1930s and 1940s.
Hewitt equalled Quist's long-standing mark during Australia's first-round loss to Sweden in February and seemed certain to establish a record after Morocco's two best players, Hicham Arazi and Younes El Aynaoui, pulled out of the tie because of injury.
Tahiri, ranked 507th in the world, was unable to mount a serious challenge to Hewitt, who climbed back to third in the rankings after making the U.S. Open final earlier this month.
Hewitt raced through the first set in 25 minutes, losing just three points on his serve, then broke his opponent twice to win the second set.
The former world number had a minor hiccup when he failed to serve out the match at 5-1 but immediately broke back to secure victory and leave Australia needing to win just one of the three remaining matches this weekend to keep their place in the World Group next year.
Arthurs gave Australia the perfect start when he rode his booming serve to an easy win over El Aarej, firing down 24 aces.
El Aarej, ranked 428th in the world, held a set point in the opening tiebreak but failed to convert his lone opportunity as the Australian quickly stamped his authority on the match.
Better suited by the grass surface, Arthurs broke El Aarej's serve for the first time in the second set before breaking him twice more in the third.
Arthurs will team up with Todd Woodbridge against El Aarej and Tahiri in Saturday's doubles before the concluding reverse singles on Sunday.
