“It’s one of the heaviest clay courts I’ve ever played on, it doesn’t suit my game at all”. Argentina are now 2-1 in front in their last-eight tie in Pesaro.
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All it took was a couple of wayward shots hooked wide, and Edmund was on his knees – a second straight sets win at the Davis Cup, and a place in the semi-finals to face Argentina with an Andy Murray-less team.
But that set up a packed Saturday, the day usually reserved for the doubles rubber only.
Britain’s James Ward serves a ball to Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic during their Davis Cup quarterf … It was down to the doubles to try and steal an edge.
Ward can win the tie in the first reverse singles on Sunday against Tipsarevic, but if the Serb veteran wins then it will come down to a deciding match between 67th-ranked Edmund and Lajovic, the two teams’ highest-ranked players.
The U.S. lost for the fourth time in 161 tries when leading 2-0 lead in a Davis Cup tie.
They will face Argentina at home, who were similarly impressive in beating Italy away from home today.
“But it’s one thing winning and then losing the other one”.
Indeed that was the state of play in all four quarter-finals.
World number ten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came back from a set down to defeat Jiri Vesely 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-5.
Again it would be the doubles that proved so compelling and important.
Wimbledon doubles champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert had beaten Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday to give France a 2-1 lead. Neither of the dead rubbers were played out in those ties.
Jack Sock faced Croatia’s Borna Coric in the final match on the Tualatin Hills hard courts.
“It’s great for Dom to have his first Davis Cup victory”, Smith added. The Serbian then twice forced set point on Edmund’s serve but could not take either.
The 21-year-old Edmund also won his opening singles on Friday against Janko Tipsarevic as he assumed the role of leader of the team because Murray was on the sidelines.
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’s got to hold serve”. This was the first time that GB have won a World Group match-ie since 1981-without the nation’s No1 player.
France has nine Davis Cup titles, but it last won in 2001.
‘He’s only going to get better, so on this surface in particular he’ll have some great events in the next 10 or 15 years and that’s really exciting’. In the third I started playing better and I had some chances.
It would be a surprise if his coming-of-age weekend did not have a positive impact, with Edmund saying: “These matches give you confidence”.
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“You just basically focus on the process but at the back of your mind you know what is at stake so I’m just happy that I managed to pull it out”.
