Kyle Edmund looks likely to face Del Potro in the decisive rubber as Great Britain attempt to defend the competition they won in Ghent previous year, with Andy Murray favourite to defeat Guido Pella in the first reverse singles on Sunday.
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After his five-hour and seven-minute 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 epic win against Andy Murray on Friday, the expectation was that Del Potro, still working his way back into the game following wrist surgery, would take the day off on Saturday.
Mayer, born on the same day as Murray and proving his equal on the final day, won 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 after coping much better with the pressure situation.
And this weekend could hardly have been busier as prior to playing Pella, he had already spent eight hours on court – he had never played a match as long as his five-hour defeat by Del Potro on Friday, and Saturday’s doubles match was a further three hours of tennis.
Del Potro’s no-show in the final match had raised hopes that Britain could pull off a comeback victory after losing both of Friday’s singles clashes, especially since Evans is ranked 61 places above Mayer.
Britain hadn’t defeated Argentina in 88 years but their hopes of ending that run were boosted before Evans took to the court following the news that he would be facing Mayer instead of Del Potro.
Argentina will face Croatia, who beat France 3-2 in the other semi, in the November 25-27 final.
Great Britain have been knocked out of the Davis Cup by Argentina, failing to successfully defend last year’s title.
Evans was making some wrong choices and becoming frustrated as Mayer controlled the rallies with a forehand which was not as big as Del Potro’s, but was proving just as effective in driving his opponent back. “I want to play for more years not just one more match”.
There was even a roar of triumph when Evans’ unreturned serve clinched the first set.
After the first set, he served superbly and controlled the match.
Mayer, who in June past year was ranked 21 in the world, showed his experience in the third set as he immediately broke in the first game.
He said: “Yes, surprised, but I think it’s understandable”.
“I expected to feel exhausted, I expected to be in some pain this weekend, I spoke to my team about that”. Of course, Mayer doesn’t have a good ranking these days but he gave Argentina a lot of good victories in Davis Cup.
“I don’t know what it is about the Davis Cup it brings out the best in me”.
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.
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“So that’s why I had to go off the court, because the strapping had to be done very high up on my right leg and I needed to take my clothes off”.
