Three-time major victor and World No. 2 Andy Murray of Britain will face former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro for the first time since defeating the Argentinian to win his second consecutive men’s singles gold medal at the Olympic Games in Brazil last month.
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Juan Martin Del Potro led Argentina to an opening day lead over Great Britain in the semi-final of the Davis Cup after beating Andy Murray in a five set epic.
That made it the longest match of Murray’s career, surpassing the four hours and 54 minutes he took to beat Novak Djokovic in the US Open final in 2012 and Kei Nishikori in the Davis Cup first round in March.
The result ended Murray’s 14-match winning run in the competition and meant he suffered a first singles loss at home.
In the other semi-final taking place this weekend, Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig moved Croatia to the brink of the final as they earned a superb victory over the French pairing of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the world’s top ranked doubles team, at the Kresimir Cosic Hall in Zadar.
Murray – who recently retained his Olympic title in Rio by defeating Del Potro is another dramatic match – started the contest in eye-catching fashion, rushing into a two-game lead.
Britain, who are bidding to defend the title that they won in Belgium previous year, were the favourites ahead of this weekend’s tie in Glasgow but now need to win all three remaining matches to reach the final following Kyle Edmund’s defeat to Guido Pella in the second singles match. It was the longest match of both players’ careers. “But we’re closer than we were at the beginning of the day and I still think we can come back”.
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”.
Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic has still to decide whether he will face Murray in Friday or Sunday’s rubber but Del Potro, who lost out to eventual champion Wawrinka in the quarter-finals of the US Open, said he would be ready “I think I’ve found my way in the game again”, the Argentine said.
Argentina staved off numerous break points in the third set before claiming a break of their own in the seventh game.
“They could have finished the tie today and thought they gave themselves their best chance by playing their best player on this surface but for us that’s now a positive”, he observed. “The crowd is great and I have loved playing here and also coming for my charity work”.
“I did great today”, said the world number two.
Speaking about the doubles success, he added: “I didn’t know how I was going to feel when I woke up”.
But the Scot insisted that it played no part in a 6-4, 5-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 defeat that lasted 5hours 7min – the longest match of his life. But I’m not going to be the fresher of the players going in to the match.
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In World Group playoffs, after missing the Friday singles with a stomach issue, Rafael Nadal joined Marc Lopez to give Spain a 3-0 win over India in New Delhi.
