United States vs. Great Britain
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
2014 World Group First Round
Petco Park
San Diego, California * January 31-February 2
Great Britain’s James Ward put history firmly on his country’s side Friday by defeating the United States’ Sam Querrey, 1-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the day’s second singles match, vaulting Great Britain to a 2-0 advantage over the U.S. in the Davis Cup First Round tie at San Diego’s Petco Park.
Ward’s victory over Querrey – his second in as many tries, after a three-set triumph at London’s Queen’s Club in 2011 – followed Andy Murray’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 win over Donald Young in the first singles match Friday, which saw each team’s No. 1 singles player match up against the opposing country’s No. 2. When the United States faces a 0-2 deficit in Davis Cup, the U.S. holds a 1-38 record. The only time the U.S. has come back from a 0-2 hole was in the 1934 Inter-Zonal Zone Final in London, when the U.S. came back from 0-2 down to Australia.
Ward, ranked No. 175, upended the 49th-ranked Querrey by breaking the American’s serve five straight times to end the match, beginning when Ward broke Querrey for the first time in the match down 3-4 in the fourth set. Querrey had won his only previous five-set Davis Cup match, beating Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in last year’s Quarterfinals in Boise, Idaho.
No. 6-ranked Murray, meanwhile, stretched his Davis Cup singles winning streak to 17 with his straight-sets defeat of the 79th-ranked Young, who was making his Davis Cup debut.
ORDER OF PLAY
DAY/LOCAL MATCH TIME EVENT DETAILS/PAIRING
Friday, 11:00 a.m. Singles A: Andy Murray (GBR) d. Donald Young (USA), 6-1, 6-2, 6-3
Singles B: James Ward (GBR) d. Sam Querrey (USA), 1-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
Saturday, 12:00 p.m. Doubles: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA) v.
Andy Murray/Colin Fleming (GBR)
Sunday, 11:00 a.m. Singles C: Andy Murray (GBR) v. Sam Querrey (USA)
Singles D: Donald Young (USA) v. James Ward (GBR)
*Team captains may substitute the doubles team up to one hour before the match.
DAY 2 PREVIEW NOTES
Bob and Mike Bryan are scheduled to take on Andy Murray and Colin Fleming in Saturday’s doubles match. The Bryans are coming off two rare Davis Cup losses in 2013 which doubled their Davis Cup loss total to four. Prior to dropping two five-setters last year – to Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic and IliJa Bozoljac in the Quarterfinals and Brazil’s Bruno Soares and Marcelo Melo in the First Round, the Bryans’ previous Davis Cup loss had come in 2008, to France.
Bob and Mike have never played Great Britain’s nominated team of Murray and Colin Fleming together but hold a 4-0 record over Murray (3-0 on clay) with four different partners and a 6-1 advantage over Fleming with three different partners, the only loss coming on grass at London’s Queen’s Club in 2009. Further neither Bob nor Mike has lost on clay in Davis Cup doubles matches, with a 10-0 record together.
Murray and Fleming have only played Davis Cup doubles together once, beating Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic in the World Group Playoff last year.
Full head-to-head doubles information can be found in the attached packet.
WHERE TO WATCH
Tennis Channel will air live daily coverage. Saturday’s doubles match will air at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT, and Sunday’s singles matches will air live at 2:00 p.m. ET/11:00 a.m. PT. ( for other country tie times look on the tennis channel )
ATTENDANCE
Attendance for Friday’s singles matches in the temporary stadium built in left field of Petco Park was 6,165.
Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, Bob Bryan, Davis Cup, Donald Young, Great Britain, James Ward, Mike Bryan, Petco Park, Sam Querrey, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, U.S.