“He played really heavy and I was surprised”. In any doubles team, there is always a dominant partner who calls the shots, and Jamie is the one who has taken charge all the way through this Davis Cup run.
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It’s Great Britain versus Belgium in the Davis Cup final. “I’m aware that will be a very tough match to win”, said Murray. “It was a good atmosphere and it is going to be tough over the next couple of days”.
The opening singles of the tie, which was a “must-win” rubber for Belgium as they try to land their first title, was turning into a humiliation for Goffin when he trailed the world number 100 by two sets.
With the tie now certain to go into a third and final day, both Murray and GB captain Leon Smith played down suggestions that everything hinges on the doubles result.
On Saturday, the Scotsman will team up with brother Jaime Murray against the Belgian duo of Kimmer Coppejans and Steve Darcis. As many predicted, it was one apiece after two rubbers with the all-important doubles rubber coming up as the determining key to this tie.
“It’s an important match, obviously”.
“I think throughout the rest of the year you have to be quite selfish”. “We won’t do anything until tomorrow night, see how everyone is, see how the doubles has gone”.
Murray’s dominance continued in the second set as he twice broke on his way to a 6-2 success with Bemelmans’ hopes of an unlikely recovery receding by the point with the Brit showing all the style that carried him to two ranking events titles on clay earlier this year.
Jamie, meanwhile, has enjoyed the best year of his career by reaching two Grand Slam finals and the ATP World Tour Finals, leaving the Britons as strong favourites on Saturday.
Organizers have warned spectators coming to the 13,000-seat arena to take extra time in arriving because of time-consuming security checks.
“Goffin’s a top-quality player when he plays well”, said Andy Murray. “People expected me to win the match, and that’s what I did”. This was Murray’s ninth Davis Cup victory this season – seven have been singles matches, and two have been doubles wins alongside his brother – and so the possibility remains that he could become only the fourth player to win 11 or more rubbers in a year. The first team to win three “rubbers” wins the tournament.
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Belgium captain Johan Van Herck said he had feared the worst as Edmund blazed away on the clay. Andy needs to aim for a high percentage on his first serve because the Belgians will be trying to attack his second. According to the draw, the reverse singles feature Goffin vs. Murray and Bemelmans vs. Edmund, but that could change. To add some theatre to the pre-match show, giant white curtains had been hung from the ceiling and all around the court. When trailing by two sets, it was nearly as if Goffin, ranked 16 in the world, so some 84 spots above his opponent, suddenly remembered his standing and status, and how he needed to win the match if his country was to have any realistic chance of winning the trophy for the first time. Only two players before him – John McEnroe and Mats Wilander – have won all eight singles games since the Davis Cup World Group was started.
