Paris: Andy Murray’s stamina will be key to holders Great Britain’s push for a second consecutive Davis Cup final when they meet Argentina in the semi-finals in Glasgow starting Friday.
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Del Potro was actually drawn to play Murray first because his ranking is lower than compatriots Federico Delbonis and Guido Pella, with the latter taking the other singles spot and facing Kyle Edmund tomorrow.
Andy and Jamie Murray will play together in Saturday’s doubles match.
This opening rubber was, indeed, the blockbuster of the tie, putting Murray up against Juan Martin del Potro, a fellow US Open champion and the man who put up such a fight in the gold/silver match at this year’s Olympics. Only twice in 117 years of the competition have Great Britain come back from 2-0 down to win a tie: in 1930 against Germany and in 2013 against Russian Federation, which was the start of a run that led to their lifting the cup in Ghent last November for the first time in 79 years.
Argentina is playing its 11th Davis Cup semifinal in 15 years.
France are locked at 1-1 with Croatia after day one of the other semi-final at Krešimir Ćosić Hall in Zadar.
Murray had been left shattered after his longest ever match proved all for nothing as he dramatically lost his proud record of never having been defeated in a home Davis Cup singles.
Away from the tennis court, it has also been a hard week for Murray, who was forced to miss his grandfather’s funeral to play on Friday.
But the 21-year-old, who won both his matches in Murray’s absence from the team in the victory over Serbia in July, ultimately paid for making too many errors against a consistent opponent.
Del Potro’s resurgence has been the feel-good story of the summer and it would be a hard-hearted person who was not at least a little bit happy for the genial 27-year-old.
TENNIS fans will have the opportunity to get their hands on the Davis Cup when the top team trophy in the sport comes to Stratford later this month. It was the longest match of both players’ careers. But the Scot, who looked increasingly tired as the exhausting encounter progressed, struggled to match Del Potro’s phenomenal ground strokes in the final two sets and finally succumbed after over five hours of nail-biting tennis. The eventual tie-break looked like it would be a runaway train for the Brit, with Del Potro clawing his way back to 5-5, before Murray took the 2-1 lead for the hosts. Holding Murray back for the reverse singles, when he’s due to play Pella, comes with considerable risk, as if Argentina win the doubles, Sunday’s tennis will be “dead”.
Pella came into the match with little in the way of form since the French Open, but performed above his recent level to win by virtue of being more consistent than the British No 2. Del Potro is flawless on serve: he put 86% first serve IN.
Del Potro followed his run to the Olympic final by getting to the last eight of the US Open.
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Del Potro and Guido Pella gave the visitors a commanding lead in Glasgow as they saw off the challenge of Murray and Kyle Edmund respectively, to leave Britain facing an uphill task to retain their title.
