It also justified captain Daniel Orsanic’s decision to rest 27-year-old del Potro who had played for eight hours in winning a five-hour marathon singles rubber over Andy Murray on Friday before losing Saturday’s doubles alongside Mayer against the Murray brothers.
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Argentina pulled out an astonishing victory over defending champions, Great Britain to reach the final of the Davis Cup.
They take on Croatia away from home come the end of November, and have beaten that nation in all three previous meetings-all at the World Group quarter-final stage.
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.
After Murray beat Guido Pella 6-3 6-2 6-3 to level the tie at 2-2, it was confirmed that Argentina’s star man would sit out the final rubber and be replaced by world number 114 Mayer. The 29-year-old is scheduled to play Shanghai the week after. “I want to play for more years, not just one more match”. “I haven’t been able to play because of (shoulder) injury so I am delighted to be back on form”, Mayer said.
Smith said: “We’ll get together in Davis Cup weeks and give it a damn good go but most important is to see Dan and Kyle joining Andy and Jamie in playing tour tennis, playing Masters series events, going deep in slams”. However Forget played stunning tennis to defeat Pistol Pete and lift their first Davis Cup in nearly 60 years.
On the face of it, it was straightforward, but Murray spent much of the third set wincing and needed an off-court injury time-out. “After playing a little nervously in the first set he came out with his best tennis and the tennis we are used to seeing that won a lot of Davis Cup matches in the past”.
Meanwhile, for all his Davis Cup heroics, including winning deciding rubbers twice against Slovakia and Russian Federation, none of Evans’ wins had come in the World Group.
Or from his absences from the Argentine bench when Murray was closing in for the kill against Pella?
There was the small beginnings of a momentum swing at the start of that fourth set, the watching Andy Murray risking his thigh injury as he climbed off his seat to mark Evans saving multiple break points for a big hold, but even technology wasn’t on Britain’s side yesterday.
It ended a seven-tie winning run that included last year’s final – Britain’s first Davis Cup triumph for 79 years.
“I am very proud of all these players, the ones who aren’t here, the coaches”, Orsanic told the BBC after victory was confirmed.
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Tennis: Former Davis Cup captain Wally Masur discusses Australia’s Davis Cup win over Slovakia. “The two matches I’ve had to withdraw from before, one of them was my wrist and the other was my back, which was the joint”. I knew I’d be in some pain and it would be really hard.
