Great Britain leads the U.S. 2-1
The United States’ Bob and Mike Bryan gave their country a chance at a historic Davis Cup rally by beating Great Britain’s Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(8), 9-7, in Saturday’s doubles match at Emirates Arena in Glasgow. It was Bob and Mike’s first five-set win in Davis Cup competition, having lost two five-set matches in 2013. The match today lasted three hours and 39 minutes.
After falling behind, 0-2, following Friday’s singles matches, the United States found itself at unfavorable odds at a comeback—the U.S. is 1-39 all-time in Davis Cup ties when trailing, 0-2, and 0-19 since the World Group format was introduced in 1981. The United States’ only win from trailing 0-2 took place in the 1934 Inter-Zonal Zonal Final in London against Australia.
The U.S. has achieved five comebacks all-time from 1-2 down and holds a 3-20 record when facing a 1-2 deficit since the World Group format was introduced in 1981. Great Britain has never lost a Davis Cup tie from 2-0 down.
The Bryans are now 23-4 together in Davis Cup with their win today and are the all-time winningest U.S. Davis Cup doubles team.
Order of Play and Results
DAY/LOCAL MATCH TIME EVENT DETAILS/PAIRING
Friday, 1:00 p.m.
Saturday, 1:00 p.m. Doubles: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA)
Sunday, 1:00 p.m.
DAY THREE TIDBITS
Tomorrow’s first match will feature each country’s top player—world No. 20 John Isner vs. world No. 5 Andy Murray and world No. 47 Donald Young vs. world No. 111 James Ward. With Great Britain leading, 2-1, Murray could clinch the tie with a victory over Isner in Sunday’s first singles match. In that case, if Murray wins in three sets, the dead fifth rubber between Young and Ward will be played best of three sets. Should Murray win in four or five sets, the dead fifth rubber likely will not be played.
Isner and Murray have met four times on the ATP World Tour, with Murray holding a 4-0 record over Isner (2010 Australian Open, 2011 US Open, 2011 Hopman Cup, 2014 Cincinnati). Murray is the fifth Top 5 player that Isner has faced in Davis Cup competition with Isner holding a 1-4 record after upsetting Roger Federer in the 2012 World Group First Round in Switzerland. Isner is competing in his 10th Davis Cup tie and holds an 8-8 record in singles after falling to Ward yesterday in an epic five-set match that became the longest-ever U.S. Davis Cup match at four hours and 57 minutes. Murray is 20-2 in Davis Cup competition after defeating Young yesterday in four sets.
Young and Ward met for the first and only time on the ATP World Tour in 2014 in Eastbourne, U.K., where Young won the match, 6-3, 6-2. Ward won his second straight Davis Cup match against the U.S. yesterday by upsetting Isner, also defeating Sam Querrey last year in the World Group First Round in San Diego. Ward now holds an 9-8 singles record in Davis Cup. Young is 0-2 in Davis Cup after losing to Murray yesterday and in San Diego last year.
The winner of this match will play either France or Germany in the quarterfinals, July 17-19. Should the U.S. defeat Great Britain, it will travel to Germany or host France. The losing nation will compete in the World Group Playoff, September 18-20.
WHERE TO WATCH
Tennis Channel will air Sunday’s singles matches live starting at 9:00 a.m. ET (1:00 p.m. local time).
UNITED STATES QUOTES
Captain Jim Courier
On Bob and Mike’s reliability in Davis Cup…
The biggest luxury is having these guys on the team. They continue to come through for us.
On how John Isner is feeling…
John is good. He was obviously disappointed last night, but he had a good night of sleep and a good hit on court today before the Bryans. He was well-prepared on playing tomorrow and that the Bryans would be likely to win. He should be ready.
On Donald Young, if he needs to play tomorrow…
Donald is also ready. It was important for Donald to get a Davis Cup set under his belt. Momentum is funny. From 2-0 to 2-2, James is the favorite in the match, I think, after John’s match. We are not there yet, but if we get there, it will be fun and interesting. It will be the biggest match of both of their lives.
Bob Bryan
On winning their first five-set Davis Cup match…
We lost a few heartbreakers in 2013. If we got this opportunity again to play five sets, we were telling each other to erase that pain. This was a great way to do it to win a very emotional match and keep the team in it. We all played a great match. They didn’t give us an inch all day. Jamie returned well and served well. They made a ton of first serves and cleaned up the volleys. We had to bring out best stuff to win.
Mike Bryan
On today’s match…
We didn’t let up. They hit great returns. They were going for it the whole way. We had been playing well all week and we played a great match today and it came down to a few points. The margins were really small. We had a couple of looks in the fourth set. But, all credit to them. They hit some alley shots and lines and served big when they had to. It came down to the wire.
On the crowd…
Well, we played in Seville [in the final] with 20,000 loud Spaniards. The DJ was actually loud today when we were on the match. It was louder than the fans.
WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND update
Great Britain leads the United States,2-1
France leads Germany, 3-0
Australia leads Czech Republic, 2-1
Italy leads Kazakhstan, 2-1
Argentina is tied with Brazil,1-1
Serbia leads Croatia, 3-0
Belgium leads Switzerland, 2-1
Canada is tied with Japan, 1-1
Topics: Bob Bryan, Davis Cup, Great Britain tennis, Mike Bryan, Sports, Tennis News, Tennis Results, United States tennis news
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