Mayer and Del Potro were unable to put their country in the final when they lost to Wimbledon and Olympic champion Murray and his brother Jamie Murray in the doubles on Saturday, but the 29-year-old came from a set down to see off Evans 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 and settle the tie.
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Great Britain’s title defence was hanging by a thread after singles defeats for Andy Murray – in a five hour epic against Juan Martin Del Potro – and Kyle Edmund on Friday.
A commanding performance from Great Britain’s Andy Murray ensured that its Davis cup semi against Argentina will go to the deciding match on Sunday.
The Argentinian nervelessly served out an eighth straight win in Davis Cup singles matches to send Argentina through to a final against Croatia in November.
Ignore his current ranking of No. 114 as he has been as high as 21 in the standings, and he can certainly play, as he demonstrated by coming from a set down for this 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory inside three hours.
In the first set, Cilic broke Gasquet in the eighth game and then held to clinch the set, saving a break point at 30-40 down. Argentina are looking to reach their fourth final in 10 years in Glasgow while in Zadar, Croatia, Marin Cilic was facing France’s Richard Gasquet in the first of the two reverse singles on Sunday.
However, Murray will not get too much time to rest as he is scheduled to play the China Open that starts on 3 October and goes through until 9 October at Beijing. Would Murray have won the French Open had he not played the Davis Cup tie against Japan?
“We had to keep it to ourselves until the last moment so Great Britain were (left guessing) a little bit but we knew from last night that Mayer would play”, Orsanic said.
He continued: “Still at 2-1 down it’s a tough position to be in, but we’re closer than we were at the beginning of the day and I still think we can come back”.
“I have a lot of sharp pain in my right quad”.
The British No 1 was asked why he needed to leave the court for treatment during tie, and returned serve with a typically deadpan response: “I can’t get my nuts out on court”.
Tennis: Former Davis Cup captain Wally Masur discusses Australia’s Davis Cup win over Slovakia.
Dan Evans could not complete the comeback though as he lost the decider to Leonardo Mayer, ending Britain’s reign as Davis Cup champions.
“I’ve never really had any muscle injuries before”.
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However, Del Potro, still feeling his way back after a series of wrist injuries pushed him to the brink of retirement, decided not to play in the match after featuring in the doubles on Saturday due to concerns for his health following a punishing summer schedule.
