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Edmund propels champions Britain into Davis Cup semi-final

Argentina, who will travel to Britain in September for the semis, beat Italy 3-1.

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Britain’s Kyle Edmund, front, drops to his knees in celebration after having won his Davis Cup quarterfinal tennis match against Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, July 17, 2016.

On Friday, the Czechs took the lead in the tie as world No. 78 Lukas Rosol stunned Tsonga before Lucas Pouille, ranked 21st, then swept Vesely in straight sets.

Federico Delbonis was in action against Fabio Fognini and handed Argentina a comfortable 3-1 win after defeating the Italian 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

The U.S.is seeking its first semifinals appearance since 2012, Croatia since 2009.

That victory saw France win the tie 3-1 and move in to the semi-finals where they will face Croatia who secured an historic come-from-behind win against the US in their Davis Cup tie in Portland.

Indeed that was the state of play in all four quarter-finals.

Again it would be the doubles that proved so compelling and important.

They swapped places in the third set. He was the better player today, ” Lajovic said.

But persistent drizzle did not prevent the match starting on time and Edmund, ranked 14 places above Lajovic at 67 in the world, immediately took control.

His first Davis Cup experience was as demanding as it comes: GB’s final, away from home against Belgium, and facing world No11 David Goffin.

The first two sets took a similar pattern: Delbonis broke early, Fognini rallied to level and Delbonis broke back to clinch each set at Circolo Tennis Baratof in Pesaro, Italy.

Edmund had defeated Janko Tipsarevic on Friday in the opening singles as the hosts, Davis Cup champions in 2010, paid heavily for not being able to call upon Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, comfortably their top two players.

Edmunds huge forehand gave him 27 of 39 winners, while Lajovic finished with 21 winners. The first set was done in little more than half an hour, 6-3, and he broke in the seventh game of the second set after defending his first break point of the match. He served out the set, 6-4, and again broke in the seventh of the third set.

Now he had to dig deep as he faced 2-4, and did just that: Edmund won five of the remaining six points, 7-6(5), and fell to the clay in disbelief.

The 21-year-old inspired Great Britain to victory over Serbia in the absence of Murray over the weekend and the Wimbledon champion has backed the youngster to follow in his footsteps in future.

“If I reproduce this kind of performance against Edmund, I think I have a good chance of winning”. “And the good thing for Kyle, he won’t mind me saying that there’s a whole heap of stuff that he is certainly going to get better at”. I’ve been at a lot of ties, on the bench, hitting.

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Argentina have won the last three Davis Cup meetings between the two countries in 1981, 1989 and 2008 while Britain’s only win was in 1928 in the sleepy seaside town of Torquay.

Kyle Edmund was Great Britain's hero in Belgrade