Great Britain will be the favourites in the doubles if both Murray brothers combine forces, but with Andy having played the longest match of his career, the Argentines must fancy their chances of wrapping things up on the Saturday.
Advertisement
Del Potro won 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in 5 hours, 7 minutes to gain a measure of revenge after losing the Olympic final to Murray in Rio de Janeiro last month.
The British number one hit 35 aces but was unable to stop the Del Potro siege, eventually succumbing to just his third singles defeat in Davis Cup and his first on home soil. I fought for every point, tried as best as I could.
The Murray brothers were given a huge ovation as they prepared to do an on-court interview, and Jamie’s voice cracked as he said: “It’s not going to get better for me than to play with him in front of a Scottish crowd”. ‘It could have gone either way but he played a little bit better in the fifth set. Edmund was too trigger happy on his forehand, but as the youngest player on either side it was a lot to expect him to come to the rescue against a more experienced opponent.
Only twice before have Britain come from 0-2 to win a tie – against Germany in 1930 and against Russian Federation in 2013.
But he broke Del Potro when he was serving for the set at 5-4, prompting an Eric Cantona-style celebration, and took the later tiebreak 7-5.
The effort comes after a season where the world No.2 won his second Wimbledon title and second gold at the Olympics before exiting early at the quarter-final stage of the US Open.
The world No.2 has already paid his respects to his grandad and with his family’s blessing he will take to the court in a bid to get GB off to a flawless start as they try to reach the Final of the Davis Cup which was won so spectacularly in Belgium in November.
“Against Andy you never know when the match will finish”.
The Brit, who has recently reached a career high of 55 in the world, made an impressive start, taking the opening set on a tie break.
The common factor between the matches was fatigue, and Murray will wait to decide whether he plays in the doubles rubber on Saturday with his brother Jamie.
The back-up option was third singles player Dan Evans, which, for a match Britain had to win, would have been a major gamble. I thought I did fantastic. But I’ve never played a match that long. “You have to pay credit to Guido and Juan Martin, they played well”. That will be the turning point of the set, as there will be no more breaks until the end.
Del Potro celebrated with his Argentine team-mates and staff as Murray was given a standing ovation at the end of the match.
From 3-2 up with a break in the third set, Edmund lost six games in a row, and, although he fought hard to stay in contention, it was not enough.
A bigger surprise was that, after their 5hr 7min epic yesterday, Argentina also chose to put Juan Martin Del Potro’s limbs through the wringer again.
Advertisement
Murray and his colleagues will have home advantage as they take on Argentina in the semi-finals here at the Emirates Arena this weekend, with the winners to take on France or Croatia in the final in November.
