It was a marathon contest that lasted two minutes shy of five hours; a spectacular war of attrition.
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The ovation Murray received walking out into the Barclaycard Arena was deafening.
Britain captain Leon Smith said of Murray.
But the Japanese resistance finally ended at the fourth time of asking, beaten into submission by the brilliance and sheer determination of Murray. I was trying to keep the points short. “So [playing doubles] helps me to get my eye in a little bit on returns and get a bit more serving”. I was panicking a little bit at the end of the third when I was struggling physically, I didn’t quite know what to do. I was pumped up, had more positive energy. It’s Kim’s first Mother’s Day, so it will be nice to see her this evening. I played him a couple of times.
Nishikori is the highest-ranked player Andy has ever played in Davis Cup, but he has won five of their previous six matches. He is now 18-7 when it has gone to a decider.
Britain now faces a quarterfinal tie at Serbia, where a game against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic appears likely. The first day of the tie will be played on July 15 – just five days after the Wimbledon final.
“We played a great match from start to finish”, said Jamie Murray, a doubles specialist.
Britain beat Belgium in November for its first Davis Cup title in 79 years, and Murray scored the winning point in the final to go through the whole campaign unbeaten. “Every time I’ve played I’ve really enjoyed it. This team has done something special past year. It was a good win today”.
“Very tough match obviously”, Murray said. But that’s without taking Murray’s fighting instincts into account. Great Britain had a fight on their hands. The stress levels were racking up again as a break point chance went begging earning Murray a racquet abuse warning for cracking it while smacking his shoe – but it worked as he broke and held to the lead, for the first time in this set.
The half-American Led Zeppelin fan briefly matched Murray in the second set, but the world No 2 served superbly and never looked in any danger.
World number one Novak Djokovic took nearly five hours to beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-3 6-2 as Serbia levelled their tie with Kazakhstan at 2-2.
Murray then brought up a set point of his own and Nishikori cracked under the pressure, dumping a forehand into the net.
“After the first game of the fifth set, he raised his level and started to become much better”, Nishikori said.
Murray and world No 6 Nishikori could have sized each other up during Saturday’s doubles rubber but Japan surprisingly opted to leave their star player out, opting to use Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama instead.
World number two Murray, playing his first match since the Australian Open final, outclassed Taro Daniel 6-1 6-3 6-1 to the delight of a boisterous home crowd in Birmingham.
He is unbelievable. It is a privilege to sit there with him, and we will remember that for a long time.. Throughout the fourth set, and into the early stages of the fifth, he was moving sluggishly and clearly feeling the effects of his recent month-long lay-off from the tour. He’s a man of steel, isn’t he?
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“We have to give a lot of credit to Kei, he played a great match, one of the best matches of his life for sure”.
