While eyebrows that were raised when Juan Martin del Potro’s name wasn’t called by Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic, it was worth noting that Mayer too was a man of substance and those crafty Argentines had been plotting to play him from pretty much the moment Del Potro dragged his tired frame off court against Andy Murray on Friday night.
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Ignore his current ranking of No. 114 as he has been as high as 21 in the standings, and he can certainly play, as he demonstrated by coming from a set down for this 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory inside three hours.
Murray, though, won’t have much time off before getting back on the court for the Beijing Open which begins two weeks from today on October 3.
The brilliance of 21-year-old Edmund in the Davis Cup quarter-final win over Serbia ensured Great Britain’s place in the last-four, while 26-year-old Evans won the decisive fifth rubber against Russian Federation to earn GB a place in the World Group play-offs back in 2013.
In Sydney, John Peers and Sam Groth earned a 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2) win and an unassailable 3-0 advantage for Australia against Slovakia.
In other ties, Canada beat Chile 3-0, Switzerland and Uzbekistan were 2-2, Russian Federation were 2-1 to the good over Kazakhstan in a rain-hit tie while Germany were level 2-2 with Poland.
The British No 1 was asked why he needed to leave the court for treatment during tie, and returned serve with a typically deadpan response: “I can’t get my nuts out on court”.
“I’ve never really had any muscle injuries before”, he said.
“I expected to feel exhausted and I knew I was going to be in some pain”, he said.
Earlier Sunday, world number two Andy Murray had to leave the court for a medical timeout in the third set but returned to wrap up a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Guido Pella which made it 2-2 in the semi-final. I need a break.
It leaves Britain in with a chance of retaining the title they won against Belgium a year ago.
In 1988 they were supposed to play West Germany on slow clay at Gothenburg and they seemed all set for their fourth Davis Cup in six years.
But Mayer was quick to up his level and he played pretty much flawless tennis in the final three sets, leaving Evans very little room to make an impact on the proceedings.
“We worked really hard to get to this point again but we’ve had some great times in the Davis Cup”.
There was to be another break of the Argentine’s serve in the first game as Murray set the tone for the set.
Only adding to the din was Murray, who after going through his warm-down routine, and fulfilling his post-match media commitments, joined this late in the opening set.
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LEON SMITH last night paid tribute to the commitment of Andy and Jamie Murray to the Davis Cup despite Britain losing its grip on the trophy in Glasgow.
