Ironmen Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro took the court on Saturday for Britain and Argentina, respectively, on Saturday, a day after playing the longest match of their careers in the opening singles. BBC Two begin their coverage on Friday from 1pm, with Andy Murray’s match against Juan Martin del Potro.
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The Scot spearheaded Team GB’s charge to Davis Cup glory last year when their defeat of Belgium in the final saw them claim victory in the competition for the first time in 79 years.
Only twice in 117 years of Davis Cup competition have Great Britain come from 2-0 down to win the tie: against Germany in 1930 and against Russian Federation three years ago in Coventry, where Evans, not far from his home city Birmingham, played a crucial role.
The big-serving Del Potro capitalized on Murray’s mistakes to take the first set, which included one rally of 41 strokes.
“Yesterday was a very tough day and to get the win today with Jamie was great”, Andy said. 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 world number two is once again due to play on all three days and, despite Britain’s improved strength in depth, the team is still very dependent on their star man.
Andy Murray will tackle Pella in Sunday’s penultimate singles match before Edmund, who reached the fourth round at the US Open, and world number 64 Del Potro bring the curtain down.
“He’s a very robust guy, both physically and mentally”, Britain captain Leon Smith said of Murray’s potential workload, “so don’t be surprised to see him do it”.
Meanwhile, captain Smith played tribute to the mercurial brothers, whose Davis Cup record together makes for impressive reading.
Making his first Davis Cup appearance since a forgettable performance in last year’s quarter-final win over Kazakhstan in Darwin, Kyrgios was more inconvenienced by a nose bleed than his lowly-ranked opponent. “I fought for every point and tried the best that I could and that’s all that you can do”. The second was far better from Murray and the Scot made the breakthrough at the ideal moment as he finally broke Del Potro’s serve to take it 7-5.
In the other semi-final, France and Croatia are locked at 1-1 going into Saturday’s action.
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Speaking about the doubles success, he added: “I didn’t know how I was going to feel when I woke up. That happens in tennis and sport sometimes when it could go either way and there wasn’t much difference in the match”, Murray said. All the hard work will have been undone if he does not beat Guido Pella first up tomorrow with Dan Evans likely to replace Kyle Edmund in a bid to edge out Del Potro in the deciding match. Venus and Daniell beat Aqeel Khan and Mohamed Abid Ali Khan Akbar 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 to give New Zealand a 3-0 lead after Jose Statham and Finn Tearney won the opening singles on Friday, also in straight sets. Doubles is always a tough match but I would have thought I would probably be the favourite to win the match on Sunday.
