Andy Murray beats Bernard Tomic in straight sets to guide Great Britain into the Davis Cup final with a 3-1 victory over Australia.
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The Brit was unrecognisable from the first set as he forced Tomic into a tie-break, but it was Tomic who prevailed to take a 2-0 set lead and after the Australian secured yet another early break in the third set, Britain were on the brink of losing their lead.
Belgium have the incentive of a home final against either Britain or Australia should they win.
Linette will play Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, who overpowered Croatian-born Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, 7-5, 6-2, in the final today.
Switzerland, which won its first Davis Cup title a year ago, stays in the 16-nation World Group though perhaps without Federer.
But a Hewitt victor ensured a tie-break and, after a Groth volley had saved a match point, Australia sent the contest to a deciding set.
GB captain Leon Smith opted to pair the Murray brothers together for the all-important doubles, with the tie locked at 1-1 after the first day’s singles.
In other play-off results, Czech Republic took a 2-1 lead over India, Adam Pavlasek and Radek Stepanek pulling off a fairly straightforward 7-5 6-2 6-2 victory over Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes.
Evans’ application to his tennis has been questioned from time to time, but Andy Murray feels he has the temperament to handle his sudden exposure to the limelight.
Murray had endured four hours on court alongside his brother before seeing off Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth in Saturday’s doubles, but he could not have started any better as he launched two aces on his first three points.
But Murray said: “I wasn’t really thinking about history or anything like that, I was just concentrating on the points”. They made loads of noise from the first point to the last.
Murray said on Thursday he felt good but had needed to rest after tough matches and late finishes at the U.S. Open.
Britain advance to a final that might have seemed unthinkable a mere handful of years ago, when they were limping around the lower tiers of the Davis Cup.
The world number three was confirmed as his brother’s partner just before midday, although it was widely anticipated that original selection Dom Inglot would be sidelined after the first day of action, when Evans lost to Tomic after Andy Murray had raced to victory over Kokkinakis. I didn’t give him any opportunities on my serve. The Scots broke their opponents in that game and the next service game to take the set 6-4.
A final away in Belgium beckons after Steve Darcis’ decisive win over Federico Delbonis in Brussels.
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Italy also preserved its World Group status when world No. 28 Fabio Fognini defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to secure victory against Russian Federation in Irkutsk. Murray was broken as he served for the set, after initially saving a break point he double-faulted and was then wide with a backhand to hand Tomic a way back into the set.
