Britain is one point away from lifting the Davis Cup title for the first time in 79 years after winning the doubles against Belgium on Saturday.
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Just as they had done in previous rounds, the Murrays “stuck together as brothers should”, to borrow Andy’s phrase, with the Scots infuriating thousands of spirited, vocal Belgians by beating David Goffin and Steve Darcis in four sets, every one of which fried the nerves of anyone who had come dressed in red, white and blue. And it will not have done David Goffin any good for the match to have lost that match.
“It’s far from over”, Andy said. But the two have never met on clay. I know how good a player Goffin is.
The 28-year-old Scot has already restored British tennis pride with his US Open triumph in 2012 – the first Grand Slam title for a British player since Fred Perry in 1936 – and his momentous Wimbledon victory the following year, again the first for a Brit since Perry in 1936. While Goffin is a singles player of some worldwide standing, ranked No. 16 in the world, and with a record of having reached the fourth round at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon during his career, he isn’t exactly known for his skill on a doubles court. But I’m not getting ahead of myself.
That released some of the tension and the match was just about done when Jamie saved seven break points in the fourth game of the fourth, with Darcis failing to hold his serve in either of the final two sets.
The third set featured a whopping five service breaks before Andy Murray finally restored order by serving out the set in the ninth game.
Goffin and Darcis had never played together in a tie before, while the Murray brothers improved to 4-0 in the competition. An hour before the match, and as the spectators waited in long queues to go through the security checks, it became apparent that the Belgian captain, Johan van Herck had taken a considerable risk by changing the doubles pair that he had nominated at Thursday’s draw. This was also the first time he had played Davis Cup doubles for three years, having not played since the last encounter between these two countries, which was a Euro-African zonal tie in Glasgow. But as a team we have to believe, we have to stand up, we have to fight.
“Not a lot of people gave us a chance to win against Argentina in the semis and we did it so now tomorrow there’s a huge task ahead of us”. Things swayed towards the hosts when Jamie Murray dropped serve early in the third set but the British siblings broke twice in a row to lead 4-2 before Jamie again lost his serve. We fought hard for each other and got our rewards’. “So have to enjoy that”.
“Obviously to be up 2-1 gives us a better chance of winning”.
But the Belgians, roared on by a vociferous home crowd, fashioned a break of their own in the second set as Jamie’s double fault gifted an opportunity which Goffin gratefully took with a thumping overhead volley. But the unorthodox shot was a victor, and Belgium was back in the match.
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The Murray brothers appeared the edgier duo and Andy was forced to fend off a break point with an ace to hold for a 5-4 lead. “I wasn’t really there, mentally”, the Belgian said, citing the need for a short break before the final.
