Murray lost his opening match of the semi-final to Argentine star Juan Martin del Potro, after the two engaged in an epic duel that would go for the full five sets, breaching the five-hour mark.
Advertisement
On Sunday: Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) bt Daniel Evans (Britain) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; Andy Murray (Britain) bt Guido Pella (Argentina) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Murray and his Great Britain team fell just short to Argentina in the Davis Cup semifinals losing 3-2.
At five hours and seven minutes, it was the longest match Murray had ever played in and saw revenge for Del Potro after the Olympic final.
However, despite the boisterous support of the home crowd, world number 53 Evans could not prevent Argentina from reaching their fifth final in the men’s team competition as they seek their first Davis Cup crown.
Mayer, born on the same day as Murray and proving his equal on the final day, won 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 after coping much better with the pressure situation.
“It is a very special moment for the whole team”, the Argentina captain said.
Russian Federation is also returning to the top level of the Davis Cup for the first time since 2012 after beating Kazakhstan 3-1.
“We played so many ties away, we had been waiting to play at home and now we just won in front of our home crowd it’s unbelievable”, said Croatia captain Zeljko Krajan. “When it did, he actually played pretty well from the back, I thought he was aggressive – took a lot of time away from me”.
“Just a little upset for what happened”, said Evans.
Del Potro had hinted after the doubles on Saturday that he would not be turning out, but both he and Mayer warmed up on Sunday.
But Mayer settled in the second set and ramped up his big serve.
The world number two will face Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, with proceeds going to UNICEF and a local charity in north Glasgow called Young People’s Futures. But he struggled to make any impact on his return and Mayer did eventually claim the break for 3-2 to edge closer to victory.
Shortly after the conclusion of the match came confirmation that Evans would be taking on 114th-ranked Leonardo Mayer rather than Del Potro. “That was worrying for me and thankfully I managed to get it done in straight sets”, Murray said.
The only let-up for Pella came in the third set when Murray disappeared for a medical timeout.
Murray won his match in a dominating fashion, thoroughly outclassing his opponent in the first reverse singles. “The draw is on Thursday and we will find out where we are playing and figure it out”.
Marin Cilic sent Croatia into the cup showdown with a 6-3 6-2 7-5 victory against Richard Gasquet that gave the hosts a 3-2 win over France. Croatia lost that one but it made no difference.
Advertisement
This was, of course, heartbreaking for Evans: He had also been unable to get his name on the winners’ side of the equation on this very court in last year’s semi-final against Australia.
