The world number two, clearly exhausted after almost ten hours tennis in three days, forced the tie into a fifth and deciding match with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over Guido Pella.
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Evans is at a career-high of 53 in the rankings and held match point against eventual champion Stan Wawrinka in the third round of the US Open, but had never won a World Group match.
Del Potro hinted after the doubles that he might not play on Sunday, should a fifth and final rubber be required.
“It’s been a great weekend and I am at a loss for words to describe how I feel”, said Cilic.
Party time: Leonardo Mayer is mobbed by his Argentina teammates as they secured a spot in the Davis Cup final.
“I am happy to give the team a second point after Juan Martin’s wonderful match”, Pella said afterwards.
“I’ll be exhausted and I have to accept that and deal with it and try to play the match on my terms if possible”.
While Del Potro’s absence startled the crowd at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena, Orsanic said he knew Mayer would play the final match after 2009 U.S. Open champion Del Potro was a surprise inclusion in Saturday’s doubles encounter, which Argentina lost.
“After the tough years I have had, it was an wonderful match for me and I was delighted when I got the call to be part of the team for the Davis Cup”, a jubilant Mayer said after his ninth consecutive win in Davis Cup play.
The Argentines will travel to Croatia for the November 25-27 final after Marin Cilic assured his side of only its second final appearance.
JUAN Martin who? The Murray brothers are busy re-writing the Scottish sporting stereotype but for Birmingham’s finest, Dan Evans, there was a taste yesterday of what is known in these parts as glorious failure.
The 26-year-old, who was preferred to Edmund following his disappointing performance against Pella, began well, but Mayer made a lot of errors in the opening set.
“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.
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Murray looked spent after his singles match with Pella, spending much of the third set with a grimace of pain etched on his face and briefly leaving the court for a medical break. I don’t think you have to be very smart to understand the effort I have to make every day. these matches influences me’. “I’ll try and get through the first match and see what happens”. “We were in a lot of trouble a couple of days ago but this was the best we could have hoped for and now Dan’s got a chance to get the job done”.
