Andy Murray won his first match since becoming a father as defending champion Britain and Japan tied 1-1 on the first day of their Davis Cup first-round match on Friday, while Novak Djokovic provided the point for Serbia, which is also 1-1 against Kazakhstan.
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Serbia will play Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup World Group 1st Rrund starting on March 4-6, in Belgrade.
“I lost some of the momentum in the third set, but it was enough to win the match”, Djokovic said.
The doubles on Saturday features Dominic Inglot and Jamie Murray against Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama.
Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Nedovyesov, left, and his partner Andrey Golubev talk between points during their Davis Cup World Group first round doubles tennis match against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 5, 2016.
Meanwhile, Italy and France were first through to the quarterfinals after beating weakened visitors Switzerland and Canada respectively.
When Djokovic has committed to the cup, and he has sidekick Viktor Troicki, Serbia has excelled.
“They showed real quality today and deservedly won”, said Djokovic after his doubles defeat. Switzerland, the champions in 2014, are in Pesaro to face Italy without Roger Federer, who is recovering from knee surgery, and the resting Stan Wawrinka. “If tomorrow’s match is to go long as well, it’s good to have all the energy that I will need for tomorrow’s match”. The Canadians’ hopes were hit on the eve of the tie when world number 13 Milos Raonic and doubles specialist Daniel Nestor were ruled out.
The winners face either Germany or the Czech Republic, champions in 2012 and 2013, in the next round.
Argentina leads Poland 2-0 in Gdansk as Guido Pella beat Michal Przysiezny 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (5) and Leonardo Mayer defeated Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Berdych will be confident of clinching the tie against Kohlschreiber on Sunday, as he has an 8-1 record against Germany’s best player. Former US Open champion Marin Cilic gave Croatia a winning start in Liege, seeing off Kimmer Coppejans 7-5, 6-3, 7-5.
Poland, making its debut in the World Group, prevented Argentina from winning their tie when Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski beat Carlos Berlocq and Renzo Olivo 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. While both the Americans and British took leads, Serbia fell behind 2-1 to Kazakhstan and will look to rebound in the reverse singles matches on Sunday.
Murray inspired Britain to their first Davis triumph in 79 years with victory over Belgium in Ghent in November.
Jim Courier’s Americans can wrap up the tie on Kooyong’s grass courts with just one more victory on Sunday through their top-rated John Isner – who faces Bernard Tomic – or Jack Sock who could end up playing Hewitt.
That became 2-0 when Andreas Seppi edged out Henri Laaksonen 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-3.
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But Czech number one Tomas Berdych levelled with a four-hour 20-minute 7-6 (8/6), 1-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win over 18-year-old Alexander Zverev.
