The shell-shocked world No. 16 gave up two breakpoints in the second set with double faults against the world No.100.
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Murray was asked about the Paris attacks on Monday, and whether he was scared to go to Belgium at the end of the month to play in the Davis Cup final.
Of the 42 finals to have been played since the abolition of the Challenge Round in 1972, only five have been won by the team which lost the doubles rubber.
Older brother Jamie wavered at times, but he held his serve to finish the match off when Darcis screwed a forehand wide, signaling wild celebrations from the British fans wedged into the claustrophobic 13,000-seat arena inside the Flanders Expo. In the fourth game he wasted 40-15 and went on to lose his serve again and Edmund took a 5-0 lead after another ideal service game. The main problem for the Belgian was his first serve, as he put in only 19 of 46 first serves in those two sets.
You didn’t need to be able to speak a word of Flemish to appreciate how deeply this crowd cared about this match.
The thinking behind the Belgians’ choice of surface for this tie was that the clay-court granules would nullify some of Murray’s class. Still, it’s not as if Murray’s game doesn’t adapt to crushed brick, and this year he won his first two clay-court titles on the ATP World Tour as well as coming extremely close to making a first final at Roland Garros when he extended Novak Djokovic to five sets.
If Edmund was disappointed not to have completed what would have been a remarkable victory over Goffin on his Davis Cup debut, the 20-year-old may have made a crucial contribution by pushing the Belgian No 1 so hard.
“It’s not a nice feeling losing from two sets to love up”, conceded Edmund.
“It was not easy”. The enjoyment you get out of winning as part of a team, I would say, is greater than on your own.
But this time the elder brother was struggling to find his touch and his timing, and the Belgians pounced in the third game of the second set. “I knew if Kyle was playing like this, bravo, but if there was a small chance I had to take it”. He was really aggressive with his forehand. But, that was all he could do as Goffin started to play much better in the rest of the match, winning the next three sets easily, for a final 3-6 1-6 6-2 6-1 6-0 after two hours and 47 minutes. “Anyway, in important moments he was better than me”.
“I wasn’t aware I’d been given the first warning”, he explained. “I don’t want to get carried away”. Obviously he will be devastated that he could not convert his position, and will probably feel he has let the team down, but he should not have that attitude. I lost a bit of confidence in my movement. For he is back tomorrow for the doubles rubber in the knowledge that he definitely has to play his third match come Sunday.
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United Kingdom captain Leon Smith has the option of bringing in the more experienced James Ward in his place if the final is still alive by then.
