After a disappointing opening day at home, brothers Andy and Jamie Murray teamed to get Great Britain on the board against Argentina with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer.
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Del Potro ended Andy Murray’s 14-match winning streak in the Davis Cup, coming through 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in 5 hours, 7 minutes to gain a measure of revenge after losing the Olympic final to Murray last month.
“I can not imagine this moment in my career”, Del Potro said.
Defending champions Britain must now win both the reverse singles rubbers on Sunday if they are to pull off what would be the most remarkable of all their recent victories.
He will now have to decide whether Edmund or Evans takes on the resurgent del Potro on Sunday, though the Argentine also looked spent after eight hours on court in two days.
The fourth set was extremely tight, with Jamie needing some treatment on a neck problem that had bothered him since the US Open final.
“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.
“This is going to be a very, very tough weekend for us to win this one but all the players want to get through it and it’s a big goal for all of us”, Murray said.
Sunday sees Andy Murray face Pella and Edmund take on Del Potro to decide the ultimate victor, but tonight’s victory was the first step required in order to provide a chance of progressing. Two-one down is closer than we were at the start of the day. In end I played good forehands and good serves and that was key.
With a packed and partisan crowd at their backs, the brothers had to win their doubles clash after world number two Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund lost their singles matches on Friday.
And it did not disappoint, with Del Potro finally prevailing 6-4 5-7 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-4 after five hours and seven minutes to give Argentina a 1-0 lead in the semi-final.
“I think he moved better than what I thought”, Murray said of Delbonis after that loss.
“I am so happy to be playing tennis again after three surgeries”. But anyone with any previous exposure to Britain’s Davis Cup ties must have realised this couldn’t possibly continue in such a one-sided, straightforward manner, and the South Americans took the second set and were well-placed to snaffle the third, too, after breaking for a 4-3 lead.
Del Potro, who did not rule out playing doubles, said: “I’m so exhausted”. They were returning great and showed the mental toughness in the crucial moments in front of their patriotic fans.
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”.
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Del Potro, though, refused to give in and he broke Murray’s serve two times in the fourth set, while his opponent was becoming increasingly troubled by a bout of cramp in his right leg.
