Britain kept their hopes of a successful defence of their Davis Cup title alive as the doubles duo of Andy and Jamie Murray overcame Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer of Argentina at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
Advertisement
Murray had never previously lost a home singles match in the Davis Cup.
Andy Murray blocked a high volley victor to end two hour, 18-minute triumph and keep British hopes alive.
“I’m very proud of how I fought, I did fantastic”, Murray said.
“Yesterday was a very tough day”. “He played unbelievably well throughout the whole match”. Obviously still 2-1 down is a tough position to be in.
The match pitted the pure power of del Potro and Mayer from the baseline against the Murray brothers fast reflexes and sharp angles at net. But anyone with any previous exposure to Britain’s Davis Cup ties must have realised this couldn’t possibly continue in such a one-sided, straightforward manner, and the South Americans took the second set and were well-placed to snaffle the third, too, after breaking for a 4-3 lead. 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. “I think for the team it was the best option to play the doubles”, said del Potro.
“We’re going to need the Glasgow roar tomorrow”. After all, Edmund was the one who supplied a couple of singles victories in the quarterfinal victory over Serbia in Belgrade (while Murray was there, he was a noncombatant, with the tie coming the weekend after he had won Wimbledon).
A bigger surprise was that, after their 5hr 7min epic yesterday, Argentina also made a decision to put Juan Martin Del Potro’s limbs through the wringer again.
Momentum was with them and a set point on the Del Potro serve was duly taken with a return victor from Andy.
But Del Potro, ranked 64th in the world after being plagued by numerous injuries, refused to surrender and condemned Murray to only his third singles defeat in the men’s team competition after finishing off the marathon encounter with an ace. “I found it hard to hit many winners, you know, and a lot of times I felt like I was hitting good shots and he was tracking them down and defending well”.
Speaking about the doubles success, he added: “I didn’t know how I was going to feel when I woke up”. You can definitely guarantee I’ll give it my best effort to win.
And now he needs to summon his energy reserves again for Sunday’s reverse singles, when he and either Kyle Edmund or Dan Evans must both win to book Leon Smith’s side another final appearance.
Which British player has the best shot to topple 2009 US Open champion del Potro? Perhaps neither of the Murrays is the senior player, with the doubles court the only place where they are truly equals.
Only twice in 117 years of Davis Cup competition have Great Britain come from 2-0 down to win the tie: against Germany in 1930 and against Russian Federation three years ago in Coventry, where Evans, not far from his home city Birmingham, played a crucial role.
Advertisement
While Murray ought to win the first of those – whether he plays Guido Pella or an understudy – there’s much less certainty about whether Britain could also take a decisive fifth rubber given that Del Potro is scheduled to be playing that match.
