Andy Murray endured the longest match of his career as he lost a five-set thriller to Juan Martin del Potro in the Davis Cup. Although, if Great Britain were 2-0 up after the first day, del Potro stepping in for Delbonis wouldn’t be a surprise.
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Do we need a Queen anymore? .
The victory earned the respect of the 8,200 fans packed inside Glasgow’s Emirates Arena as fans showered both men with applause after a grueling and gripping match that spanned five hours, seven minutes. It was my longest match of my career and I won it against Andy playing here.
“It was very fine margins”.
The second set went with serve until Pella, who had claimed victory in the pair s only other meeting at Indian Wells earlier in the season, struck at the flawless time as he capitalised on Edmund s unforced errors to break serve in the tenth game to seal a 6-4 victory.
“It was tough. Both of us were exhausted after five hours”.
The plan has been for Murray to come back and play doubles today with brother Jamie, and he is sure to feel it in his body.
Del Potro gained the crucial break in the fifth set at the third opportunity, reaching Murray’s angled volley with a forehand victor down the line to go 4-3 ahead, and he served out for the match, clinching victory with an ace and a big growl. “We’re here to win it again this year and I don’t think we’re any the less hungry because we’ve managed to win the trophy”, Murray said.
“I did great today, very proud of how I fought. I will try to be aggressive all the time”.
Two keys to this match were del Potro’s devastating forehand and his guts to deliver massive strikes when he needed them most.
It was a measure of the 27-year-old’s popularity around the world that even in the partisan world of Davis Cup he was welcomed on to the court with a big cheer.
Cilic clinched victory in the next game on his first match point when Pouille double-faulted.
Del Potro has had an excellent summer following his return from wrist surgery.
He was below his best at the beginning of this contest and the first set was lost with the net being struck with frustrating regularity from both wings. It lasted an hour and 25 minutes, in a match already three and a half hours old. This time around, Great Britain’s team is far better and will be a much tougher test for a strong Argentinian team.
On another occasion, the Swiss described playing in the competition as “a heavy burden”; in the past two years, Federer’s only appearance was in last September’s World Group playoff against Holland when he intervened to prevent his country from being relegated into the zonal divisions.
In the tiebreak two aces carried him to 4-1, but groundstroke errors took it back to 5-5.
For a while, the crowd must have been thinking of Murray as Harry Houdini in shorts – his talent as an escapologist was evident when Del Potro, serving at 5-4, had a point for the third set.
As he would time and again, however, del Potro responded to induce a repeat of the issue that cost Murray so dear against Kei Nishikori in NY last week, another failure to consolidate a service break instantly reversing momentum.
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He quelled the atmosphere in Glasgow by taking the opening set against Murray and the Brit required a calming talk from team captain Leon Smith in the second, but eventually found a break in the final game to avoid a tie-break and draw level.
