That is far longer than most expected.
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Andy Murray kept Britain in contention in the Davis Cup final when he beat Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans in straight sets to leave the two nations level at 1-1 after the opening singles Friday. And he riled the home support by roaring and fist-pumping after saving a set point before winning 6-3 6-2 7-5. He prevailed despite receiving a point penalty for an audible obscenity, a moment that temporarily lifted Bemelmans. The Belgian had his number and didn’t let up, racing into a 3-0 fifth set lead and denying his young opponent a single game in a final set which took just 25 minutes to complete. But Edmund broke to go 2-1 up and then the Belgian served double faults on break points in his next two service games to fall two sets down. Of the last 15 Davis Cup finals, 11 have gone to the team that won the doubles and, in the Murray brothers, the British have a trump card they think they can play against Belgium. Only John McEnroe and Mats Wilander have won a flawless eight out of eight in the World Group before.
“Kyle has a lot of weapons on the court and a lot of firepower, it won’t be easy for David”, Murray, who plays world number 108 Ruben Bemelmans in Friday’s second singles, said.
“I didn’t play really well in Paris but Andy was really aggressive that day and played an unbelievable match. I believe if we lost the doubles, we could win two singles on Sunday”, he said.
As for his two code violations, the Scot said it was a case of confusion reigning in the noisy arena. Firstly, the Belgians have chosen indoor clay for this tie and Edmund has a good record on clay, 80-33 for his career and 16-4 in 2015, including reaching the second round of the French Open as a qualifier. I didn’t hear it and I had no idea. It s something I m going to have to learn as I go through the match. He said “for a second warning”.
With David Goffin beating Kyle Edmund in the first match, the final is now guaranteed to be decided on Sunday.
“The third set was tricky”, said Murray.
“The third set he started to get on top of me”. I just lost a bit of confidence in my movement. But there were times in this match when he couldn’t do much about Edmund’s weight of shot.
“The fifth point, the fifth rubber in a Davis Cup Final is Darcis or James (Ward) or Kyle, whoever plays that match, will never have experienced anything like that before”.
Twelve minutes later he walked back to his chair having saved two break points, the ideal way to settle those butterflies.
Goffin again broke for 2-1 and breezed through the fourth.
It was a painful watch after that.
There was the first – and not last – delay to carry out running repairs on the net afer the third set but Goffin continued his momentum as Edmund flagged. You could see by the way I was going in the first two sets that I knew I could win. “I didn’t feel like we should get any warning or discussion about the public”. “He turned that, and that’s something I need to learn from”, Edmund told reporters. I think it will be important that the people get behind us when we re winning, when we re losing. My legs started cramping a bit.
“I gave it my best”. He has a quick arm and forehand. “I think everybody right now is concerned about things…” “For me, it would be an absolute shock if we don’t win the Davis Cup”.
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Occasionally the home fans pushed the limits of fair play but Murray refused to criticise the crowd who made the opening day of the final such a colourful spectacle. Their team captain is Johan Van Herck.
