Edmund won both his single matches against Janko Tipsarevic and then Dusan Lajovic to ensure Great Britain’s defence of their Davis Cup title remains on track and Murray says he has been excited by the British No.2’s rapid progress.
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With Andy Murray in an observer capacity in Belgrade, Kyle Edmund was Britain’s hero as the 21-year-old won both his singles rubbers to earn the defending champions a 3-2 victory at the Tasmajdan Stadium.
Britain’s captain Leon Smith was full of praise for Edmund. “It’s great to win for the country”.
Zimonjic, the 40-year-old veteran, dropped his serve twice with double-faults for key breaks in the first and third sets.
The Serbian then had the chance to flip the whole tie on its head when he forced two set points with Edmund serving at 5-6.
Britain’s Andy Murray, center, shows support for the British Davis Cup team during their Davis C …
The contest was played in gloom and often light drizzle, as the Davis Cup holders posted a first win at World Group level – without Murray – since 1986.
Asked whether it would be on his schedule he said in a convincing tone: ‘I think so, yeah’.
“I was disappointed the way we lost that but I was still confident and calm that we would prevail over four or five sets”.
It might just have been enough to fire up Lajovic, who got his first sniff of a break point on the Edmund serve, and with both players having to take huge swipes out of the ball, Edmund fought off the attack.
Great Britain are not the same beast when Murray isn’t available, and they are down the global pecking order when he is not on the Davis Cup team. The Britons then got to replay a point because a fan in the stands shouted “Out” on Inglot’s serve, and he hit two service winners to clinch the match.
Ward was not originally in the team but got the call to replace Dan Evans last Wednesday, just six hours before he was due to fly to the States for a grass-court tournament.
The second singles could not be played on the opening day because of rain and was postponed until Saturday, when it also began an hour later than scheduled.
They swapped places in the third set. “Friday [victory over Tipsarevic] was a really nice thing to do”.
British number one Andy Murray chose to travel to Belgrade just as a supporter for the tie.
Again it was Edmund putting the pressure on – bringing up two more break points but despite protests at the crowd calling out during the point, no action was taken, with Lajovic scrambling to a lengthy hold. It was a tough start but he didn’t do too much wrong throughout.
The Argentines celebrated on the outdoor clay court, and will take a 3-1 record against Britain when they travel for their September 16-18 semifinal.
The heavy conditions allowed him to regularly dance around his backhand and strike devastating blows on his potent forehand wing. But he was very good today.
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In a match postponed on Friday – and again delayed on Saturday because of rain – Ward made 73 errors and hit just 12 winners compared to Lajovic’s 23.
