Nishikori had hinted on Friday that he, too, would play but, having needed close to three hours to see off Evans, the decision was made to rest him as Japan stuck with their nominated team of Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama.
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The early signs were not good though as Nishikori broke at the start of the second set. Murray recovered from squandering a two-set lead to beat Kei Nishikori and give the defending champions a 3-1 win over Japan in the first round on Sunday. I was struggling a little bit at the end of the third set and throughout the fourth.
There was little indication that things were about to take a downward turn for Murray in the third set until a double fault gave Nishikori a break point at 3-4. “Kukushkin played so well that he probably deserved to win”.
But the world number two did more than enough in his singles and then stepped it up in the doubles, with his serve working particularly well in both matches.
Nishikori had it much tougher in the second singles match before finally putting away 157th-ranked Dan Evans 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3).
The U.K. wasn’t the only country to have two brothers lead them to victory, as the U.S.’ Bryan brothers won a big five set match to take a 2-1 lead over Australia.
He said: “It’s very easy to start to think ahead”.
Broady had a break point in the first game but Lisicki held and went on to establish a 2-0 lead.
Nishikori is the highest-ranked player Murray has ever played in Davis Cup, but he has won five of their previous six matches. Murray spent most of these five hours scampering desperately across the court in search of a shot he could pile his bodyweight into.
“I had unbelievable support today and it was great to play in front of a full house”.
“I do think it was a really good effort to come through that, after going down a break at the beginning of the fifth, and how I was feeling physically as well. I’ll try to get back for bath time and to put her to sleep – the baby, not Kim”.
So it went to the decider and when the Scot lost his opening service game, the smart money was on the Japanese player. He always acts like that. I would like to play but also because the match on Sunday is going to be a very tough one and I will definitely be playing in that one.
Italy and France had already secured their quarter-final berths at the expense of Switzerland and Canada, and sealed 5-0 victories today.
With their win, Murray’s schedule will need to fit around two Grand Slams, the defence of his Olympic title and the Davis Cup quarter-final, before the final Grand Slam of the year in NY. “They were better in crucial moments”, admitted Djokovic.
All comments that are posted on the beIN SPORTS website do not reflect beIN SPORTS opinion or vision. beIN SPORTS is not legally responsible for any inappropriate comments, users are exclusively responsible for comments they post and is described to be their personal opinion. It’s completely normal and that’s why with your team you have to be some forward thinking and planning in advance, like days off.
ANDY MURRAY produced one of the performances of his life to keep British hands glued to the Davis Cup in Birmingham yesterday.
“We have somebody like Andy who is one of the best players on the planet and somebody like Jamie who is No 2 in the world doubles, so you kind of know where you are at”.
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Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from this month’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in California due to a persistent arm injury, the Russian said Thursday in a statement from tournament organizers.
