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Lleyton Hewitt is backing Nick Kyrgios to be pushing for world top-10 status when Australia begin their quest for Davis Cup glory in 2017.With Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic teaming for the first time since 2013, Australia secured their place in the elite 16-nation World Group for next year with an emphatic 3-0 playoff win over Slovakia in Sydney.Sam Groth and John Peers sealed the tie with doubles success on Saturday before Sundays reverse singles dead rubbers were washed out.Champions 28 times but not since 2003, Australia will now anxiously await Thursdays draw in London to learn who they play in the first round next March.Likely to narrowly miss a seeding, the Hewitt-captained Australians are hoping to avoid a horror away tie against a Swiss outfit potentially led by grand slam giants Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.If were unseeded and we play one of the top eight nations, Id be looking at the possibility of around six of those being home ties and two of them being away ties, Hewitt said.With that said, though, a lot of those ties are going to be brutally tough.Belgium, runners-up to Great Britain last year, loom as another tough away prospect, while Hewitt is rightfully also wary of drawing Serbia and world No.1 Novak Djokovic or Britain with an inspired Andy Murray.But we feel quietly confident no matter who we come up against, whether its home or away, Hewitt said.If we can have our full strength - and hopefully fit - team, were going to be a good shot.And an even better shot with Kyrgios once again spearheading the team and inside the top 10 for the first time.I think hell be thereabouts, Hewitt said.He doesnt have that many points to defend for the rest of the year.He played well in Shanghai last year but the end of the year he didnt play that many events so hes got a good opportunity in the next couple of months.But sometimes its hard to get up for as well because theres no grand slam kind of at the end of it.But if he knuckles down, he could have a really good finish to the year, which sort of springboards into the Hopman Cup and Aussie Open for him.Australia havent had two Davis Cup players in the worlds top 20 since Hewitt and then-Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis teamed with Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs to win the trophy 13 years ago.But with Tomic in the top 20 for much of this year before slipping to No.21 for this tie, Hewitt is confident Australia can go deep in 2017.If we can have our two main guys (with) one pushing close to the top 10, the other 15 to 20, it its certainly a pretty strong team on paper, said the first-year skipper.Especially if we get to choose what surface to play on as well. 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She sentenced Sharper on Thursday to 18 years and four months, and a $20,000 fine.Before handing down the sentence, the judge told him she could never understand how you arrived at this place, since he is educated and obviously grew up in one of the most loving households.He pleaded guilty in federal court to drugging three women so he could rape them. He has also pleaded guilty or no contest in state courts in Louisiana, Arizona, California and Nevada. Hes accused of drugging and raping as many as 16 women in those four states.---10:45 a.m.Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McMahon says hes satisfied with the prison sentence given to former NFL star Darren Sharper.Federal prosecutors had accepted a multistate plea agreement calling for a 9-year sentence. But U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo rejected it and more than doubled Sharpers sentence Thursday, to 18 years and four months. That was 15 months shy of the maximum sentence.Defense attorney Billy Gibbens says that wont affect plea agreements with state courts in Louisiana, California, Arizona and Nevada.Milazzo also ordered Sharper to serve three years of supervised release after he leaves prison.McMahon and Gibbens say the plea agreement in Arizona calls for essentially a lifetime on probation after the end of the prison term there.Sharpers family left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.---10:20 a.m.Both former NFL star Darren Sharper and a woman he admitted drugging and raping both made emotional statements before Sharper was sentenced to 18 years in federall prison.ddddddddddddSharpers voice thickened and broke as he said he apologized a thousand times to the women he abused and to his family and friends. He said I lived my life right for 38 years and then I took this path. Sharper said hes still trying to figure out why he did.The woman said Sharper was so arrogant and twisted that he kept drugging and raping women even after he knew the attack on her was being investigated.She said a mistake is something that happens once and is corrected, but it was a way of life for Sharper and his friends.Her voice broke often during her long statement.Her last words to him were: Go to hell.---10 a.m.Former NFL star Darren Sharper has been sentenced to 18 years in prison in a case where he was accused of drugging and raping as many as 16 women in four states.Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced Sharper on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty or no-contest to charges arising from the allegations of drugging and raping women in federal court in New Orleans, and state courts in Louisiana, Arizona, California and Nevada.Prosecutors suggested a 9-year prison term for Sharper under a multi-jurisdictional plea deal, but Milazzo rejected it as too lenient in June.---Former NFL star Darren Sharper has arrived in federal court in New Orleans for a sentencing hearing.Sharper was wearing orange prison garb, and his hands and feet were shackled when he arrived Thursday morning.Sharper is due for sentencing after pleading guilty or no-contest to charges arising from the allegations of drugging and raping women in federal court in New Orleans, and state courts in Louisiana, Arizona, California and Nevada.Prosecutors had suggested a 9-year prison term for Sharper under a multi-jurisdictional plea deal, but Judge Jane Triche Milazzo rejected it as too lenient in June. ' ' '