The world number two, who sat out the quarter-final in Serbia in July following his Wimbledon triumph, has been named in a provisional five-man team alongside Kyle Edmund, Dan Evans, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot.
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Murray, who won his third Grand Slam this season at Wimbledon, will now face Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori for a place in the last four.
After dropping a set in the third round to Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, Murray was at the top of his game, producing 28 winners, just 23 unforced errors, and hitting a personal-best 141 miles per hour serve.
Asked about his fastest serve, Murray said: “I served one at 145 in San Jose, but the next day they recalibrated the gun, because it was completely wrong”.
Captain Leon Smith said: “I’m delighted to name the five players for this semi-final tie”.
Serena Williams waits for a serve from Johanna Larsson, of Sweden, during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in NY. “I saw him playing against (David) Ferrer. I made very few errors and made it tough for him”. Tactically, I think played a good match and I served very well when I was behind on the games. I enjoy it in here [on Arthur Ashe Court], fantastic atmosphere. I did go up in (racket string) tension a little bit from the last match.
Nishikori, the US Open runner-up two years ago, beat Ivo Karlovic 6-3 6-4 7-6 in the final main draw singles match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, which will be replaced by a new stadium with a retractable roof for the 2018 tournament.
But Murray was firing on all cylinders, rating the match that included a career high 141-mph ace to close out the first set as one of his best this season.
The last game of two-time major title victor Wawrinka’s victory was delayed while the crowd saluted the popular del Potro, who missed the U.S. Open the past two years because of three operations on his left wrist. A year ago in the U.S. Open semifinals, Williams’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam ended with a loss to unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy. ‘Able to hit a lot of first serve in. That’s something that I’m really proud of.
Tomorrow, Novak Djokovic returns against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.
“I don’t think he started the match really badly”, said Murray. “My level is growing up every day”, – wildcard Del Potro continues his dream run after coming back from injury. I won. I’m still in the tournament.
“But, yeah, these kind [s] of moments really, really help you mentally when you come out and play your opponent”. “Played a good match”. I didn’t execute things the right way.
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“It has been a great summer for the British players with Andy once again leading from the front and the performances from the players at the US Open gives us a lot of momentum going into the tie”, Smith said.
