A fired-up Andy Murray showed his class to draw Britain level with Belgium on day one of the Davis Cup final after David Goffin’s escape act from a two-set deficit had given the host the lead here on Friday.
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Britain’s Andy Murray, right, and his brother Jamie Murray… I know tomorrow will be extremely tough again.
With injuries plaguing the Belgian team it would fall to David Goffin to step up and compete alongside Steve Darcis in the all-important Saturday doubles match – and the World No. 16 would make a clear positive impact for his nation, with both countries looking unbreakable on their serves.
In the end, it could even boil down to the very last rubber and, although captain Leon Smith was keeping his cards close to his chest last night, that is likely to be the old campaigner James Ward, as opposed to debutant Kyle Edmund, against Darcis, who yesterday denied reports of cortisone injections in his injured arm.
Britain has not won the Davis Cup title since 1936, when Fred Perry was the team’s star player.
This golden opportunity was set up on Saturday by a magnificent double act from Judy Murray’s boys, who have now combined to win three rubbers during this year’s Davis Cup campaign, and all against top-class opposition. That’s how we’ve normally done it, that’s how we’ll do it again. “Not just because he’s my brother but because he’s an exceptionally good tennis player”.
The match began with a 12-minute game in which Goffin wasted two break points, shanking one forehand into the roof girders, then saw him completely overwhelmed for more than an hour by a free-swinging Edmund with a thunderbolt forehand. It was plain that whichever team gathered that set would take command of the rubber, and therefore of the final. Andy Murray made his share of mistakes but never dropped serve. Serving to Andy set point down, an efficient return and snap volley left Darcis scrabbling around in the clay and the set belonged to Britain.
According to Jamie Murray’s analysis after the match, “They came with a lot of different shots, a lot of angles, a lot of lobs, which made it hard for us”. Murray was docked a point at 2-2 in the third set of his 6-3 6-2 7-5 victory and roared his defiance at the Belgian fans when he saved a set point at 4-5, having trailed 2-4.
Darcis and Goffin seemed determined to control the set on their serve the rest of the way, and they did just that, holding for love in the final game to tie things up. A Darcis double fault at deuce in the ensuing game paved the way for a break and then Jamie Murray withstood seven break points to hold for 3-1.
And he rejected any notion that Belgian hopes would ultimately depend on Goffin pulling off a shock win over Murray in the reverse singles. He surrendered serve in the third game of the second, and the increasingly confident Belgian duo protected the lead. But this time the Brits answered with a break of their own, setting it back on serve. Jamie briefly danced along with the fans, who cheered on even as the players attempted their post-match interviews on the court.
Andy Murray trailed 0-30 on serve in the second game but escaped.
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But looking ahead to today’s clash, which will see Murray partner brother Jamie, said: “I don’t think it’s as important as in some of the ties”.
