Andy and Jamie Murray kept Great Britain s hopes of retaining their Davis Cup title alive as they defeated Argentina s Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer in four sets in the doubles rubber of their semi-final on Saturday.
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Argentina’s top player also noted that with Andy Murray having played the same eight hours of tennis, he and his colleagues are hopeful that Guido Pella, who beat Kyle Edmund in four sets on the opening day can render such considerations irrelevant by wrapping up the tie in the first match of the final day, while Federico Delbonis, now Argentina’s top player in the world rankings, has yet to play.
It was also Murray’s first Davis Cup defeat on home soil, breaking his 14-match winning streak in the competition.
Britain have only come back from 2-0 down to win Davis Cup ties twice but once was three years ago, when Evans played a key role in victory over Russian Federation.
Their good work seemed to come undone in the second game of the following set as Argentina immediately broke to take a 4-1 lead before serving out to take the set 6-3.
“It’s been a tough week for us but we just had to try to park it for the afternoon and focus on what we needed to do”, said Jamie.
The victor will play either Croatia or France in the final – and it’s likely to come down to the final match, with Murray a heavy favorite to make it 2-2.
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”.
Sensing Mayer pinching the middle on set point, Andy Murray bolted a backhand return victor down the line, breaking del Potro’s serve and giving Great Britain a two sets to one lead.
The decision to put del Potro in this doubles match (which was very unlikely for Argentina to win) didn’t look very logic, but it seems he will not play in tomorrow’s 5th rubber (as Andy will nearly for sure beat Pella), which puts Argentina in a very tough position. He then went on to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open and will soon be back in the top 50.
Several breaks of serve followed in the third set before another controversial call.
The main question mark going into the second day was whether Andy would deem himself fit enough to play having been unsure how he would pull up. “We deserved to win in the end”.
Smith said: “It’s a hard choice because both Dan and Kyle are playing great tennis, they’re pretty much neck and neck in the rankings, they both have really good Davis Cup experience now”. “I felt exhausted [in the morning] but it was normal and I agree with Daniel’s decisions. His comeback I think is good for the world of tennis so you can imagine what it means for us Argentinians”.
The 29-year-old Scot said: “Whether I win or not, I don’t know, but I can definitely guarantee I’ll give my best effort and hopefully I can”.
“If something were to happen to me in these situations I would be very sad and I want to take care of my health”.
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“It’s been the best year of my career so far and I hope I can keep it going”, added Murray who won 11 out of 11 rubbers for his country last year. That figure is nearly certain to deliver if Edmund does win 3-0 while it also provides some wriggle room should Pella nick a set.
