Argentina – whose Davis Cup charge is spearheaded by del Potro – defeated Great Britain 3-2 in Glasgow at the weekend, while the Croats booked their berth in the final with a 3-2 win over France.
Advertisement
Great Britain was looking for its first win over Argentina since 1928, was looking to reach its 21st final, its seventh consecutive tie victory, but most importantly of all, to defend the title won to such plaudits last year-and only five nations have managed to do that since the World Group was set up in 1981.
Murray, the Wimbledon champion and Olympic singles gold medalist, beating del Potro in the final, had also paired with brother Jamie to win Saturday’s double, seeing off del Potro and Mayer in four sets.
Argentina, semi-finalists 11 of the past 15 years, will play their fifth final, away against Croatia, who beat France in the other semi-final when Richard Gasquet collapsed like an under-cooked flan in straight sets against Marin Cilic.
Murray is then due to play tournaments in Beijing, Shanghai and Vienna before ending the season with the Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals.
Andy Murray said that he needs to take some rest to keep his body injury free.
“I’ve never really had any muscle injuries before”, Murray told BBC Sport.
The most unlikely comeback this side of Ben Ainslie in the Americas Cup or the Miracle of Medinah in the Ryder Cup had seemed a realistic possibility as Evans bounded on court in place of the advertised Kyle Edmund to contest the climax of this suspense-filled Davis Cup semi-final at the Emirates Arena. But again, he has to be smart with his schedule again next year.
But this time the hero was the Argentinian, who produced a superb display of serving to win 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.
Del Potro set the tone by notching an inspiring five-set win over Andy Murray in an epic first rubber that took five hours and seven minutes.
Upon being asked whether or not there was a sixth sense between the two brothers on the court, Jamie replied: “It’s better for me to be playing with him [Andy Murray] in front of a Scottish crowd, it gets quite emotional”.
In the end, Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic was vindicated, with Mayer showing just what the victory meant to him after an injury-dogged 12 months by breaking down in floods of tears. Then the great Boris Becker played a super match to defeat the equally great Edberg in a one-sided match 6-3, 6-1 and 6-4.
“We can now look forward to what should be a great final”. While that was in fact Evans’ last singles win in this competition, he was in decent nick, having pushed eventual US Open victor Stan Wawrinka as hard as anyone at Flushing Meadows earlier this month. He’s been able to play really well in different ties.
But to do that he needs to be in peak condition, and the physical, not to mention emotional, drain of playing Davis Cup matches can not be helpful.
Advertisement
“And we’ll continue to enjoy the weekends”.
