“We’re closer than we were at the beginning of the day and I still think we can come back”, said Andy Murray after partnering brother Jamie to doubles victory.
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A month after Murray battled for more than four hours to win Olympic gold in Rio, silver medallist Del Potro gained revenge with a 6-4 5-7 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-4 victory that lasted five hours and seven minutes.
Andy Murray admitted he was aching after his five-hour match the previous day – and insists Great Britain’s Davis Cup defence is still alive, despite the odds still being stacked against them.
Gasquet, who was called into the team on Wednesday when US Open semifinalist Monfils pulled out with a knee injury, blazed through the match against Coric, relying on his trademark backhand winners.
After the thriller of the first match, where British No. 1 Andy Murray was pipped in a five set thriller Olympic rematch against Juan Martin Del Potro, there were high expectations once more on Kyle Edmund.
However, the tactic backfired as world number two Andy Murray and his older brother Jamie secured a thrilling victory.
The common factor between the matches was fatigue, and Murray will now wait to decide whether he plays in the doubles rubber on Saturday with his brother Jamie. This kind of moment was what I was missing at home and I always play good in Great Britain and here I played great so it is a good place for my tennis.
“This is very important to me and my team and we are looking to reach another final in the Davis Cup”. But we also served very well while I also felt very comfortable on the net. As I said on the court, it’s a huge privilege to be able to play with Andy in Scotland and have that amount of support behind us. But I’m not going to be the fresher of the players going in to the match. “That happens in tennis and sport sometimes when it could go either way and there wasn’t much difference in the match”, Murray said.
The must-win rubber for the holders in the worldwide team competition took almost three hours, putting Andy Murray’s court time over two weekend matches at eight hours.
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 world number two is renowned for his passion even in straightforward matches and ironically it was going a break down that proved the catalyst for the brothers to turn things around.
The former US Open champion, who won a five-set match for the first time since 2010, said: ” I’m so exhausted.
“I will be exhausted and I have to accept that and deal with it”.
In Christchurch, New Zealand took an unassailable lead over Pakistan to retain their berth in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I when Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell won their doubles in straight sets.
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He started brightly enough leaping out to a 3-0 lead before being swiftly pegged back, and despite starting the resulting first set tie-break slowly, he soon started to wind up the pace, proving what a weapon his forehand is becoming, and picking off the first set at a canter.
