Britain’s Andy Murray (C) cheers on Britain’s Dan Evans in his match against Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer during the Davis Cup World Group semi-final singles match 5 between Britain and Argentina at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, on September 18, 2016. They beat the team of del Potro and Mayer in four sets to trail 2-1 overnight.
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“Leo has played very good Davis Cup matches before”.
Leonardo Mayer broke down into tears after his 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win ended a Murray-inspired fight-back after Argentina went 2-0 ahead on Friday.
However, Murray, who partnered his big brother Jamie to doubles success yesterday, made light work of Pella to claim his 30th win from 33 Davis Cup singles matches in just over two hours.
Great Britain have no room for error in their Davis Cup semi-final against Argentina, needing to win both reverse singles rubbers to secure a place in the final.
It gave Britain hope of pulling off a repeat of their win over Russian Federation in Coventry in April 2013 when they came back from 2-0 down to win the tie 3-2.
Argentina has never won a Davis Cup championship and whether it does depends largely on Del Potro, the country’s best and most-feared player.
Argentina, semi-finalists 11 of the past 15 years, will play their fifth final, away against Croatia, who beat France in the other semi-final when Richard Gasquet collapsed like an under-cooked flan in straight sets against Marin Cilic. But we’ve had some great times in Davis Cup, a hell of a run.
Mayer dropped just six first-serve points after falling behind Evans by a set, and he struck 31 winners on the day against just 20 for Evans. This tie came at the end of a long spring and summer in which he played in a first French Open final, scored a second Wimbledon title and retained his status as the Olympic champion. But Mayer’s serving continued to make life easier for the Argentine, and at the next time of asking, he got the break 3-2.
The Scot suffered an injury scare during his match against Guido Pella, with him struggling with a thigh problem.
“Getting the ball back into the court was tough and when I did he played pretty well from the back”. “Originally we would have hoped he would play the fifth rubber if possible but after Friday’s match we could not think of that”.
Speaking after that win Murray admitted: “I have to go and see what’s up and get some treatment”.
The former US Open champion had hinted after partnering Mayer in doubles that he would not be playing on Sunday.
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Unfortunately though for Great Britain, the doubles victory would not be enough to set them on a course that would lead to the final stage of the competition.
