ONE STEP CLOSER TO ANOTHER SLICE OF HISTORY – GREAT BRITAIN BEAT AUSTRALIA 3-2 TO REACH THE DAVIS CUP FINAL BY ROS SATAR

Written by: Staff on 20th September 2015

ONE STEP CLOSER TO ANOTHER SLICE OF HISTORY – GREAT BRITAIN BEAT AUSTRALIA 3-2 TO REACH THE DAVIS CUP FINAL BY ROS SATAR

epa04940114 Britain's Andy Murray in action against Australia's Bernard Tomic during the Davis Cup semi final tie between Britain and Australia at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Britain, 20 September 2015. EPA/ROBERT PERRY |

Maybe it’s just because I am only a couple of years into the tumble-dryer that is the tennis circuit, and haven’t been around long enough to see history being made, although I am getting there!

There was a sense of expectation in the air on Sunday as Great Britain headed into the reverse singles with a 2-1 lead, with Andy Murray to take on Bernard Tomic in the fourth rubber. The forlorn strains of Waltzing Matilda drowned out by the orchestrated chants of the Stirling University Barmy Army – the scene was set.

The first break was another display of solid rallying from both players as Tomic dumped the ball in the net after scrambling to get passing shots. Great Britain were on their way? Tomic for his part kept his nerve to keep things to just a single break deficit for the first set.

Music watch: Bay City Rollers. Man the 70s were…. [/fill in suitable sentence of despair]. In fact we should blame this change of ends music roundly as Murray’s level dipped sufficiently to give Tomic his first look at a couple of break points after he squandered a set point.

Glad to see the DJ took note that perhaps ‘The Rollers’ may not have been the ticket – as we had our first Proclaimers of the day. Patience was proving to be quite the virtue, as Murray broke once more to take the lead. [Music watch; Blondie – Atomic]

Australia’s Bernard Tomic reacts during his match against Britain’s Andy Murray for the Davis Cup semi final tie between Britain and Australia at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Britain, 20 September 2015. EPA/ROBERT PERRY

Some sublime lobbing over Tomic picked up the pace again at the start of the second set and it seemed enough to drop Tomic’s head a little. Make that a lot with his own unique styling of a ‘Djoko-smash’ straight into the net to hand Murray a couple of handy break points, duly taken.

It was imperative through that Murray not dip again – it was not going to take much for Australia to haul themselves back into the match given half a chance. Music Watch: More of Scotland’s finest with Simple Minds – who incidentally are occupying one of the potential venues for a Davis Cup final.

Wrapping the second set up, it was difficult for Tomic to really gain any kind of purchase at all and what occasional flashes of brilliance was soon nullified by the Brit. A botched drop shot left Tomic just face-palming as it brought up the Tie-point, and a return slung wide put Great Britain in the final for the first time in 37 years (or as we like to describe it, since dinosaurs held tennis racquets in their tiny paws)!

It should fall to Leon Smith to really talk about how the far the team has come:

“I think back then [against Turkey] it actually allowed us to win some matches, which was good. I think it allowed some of the other players, doubles players, the other singles players to get some momentum going, get some confidence and get used to the Davis Cup environment and that started to play off dividends as we had a few tougher matches.

“Slovakia and Russia kind of stand out as good ones. But then when Andy is here it’s just made such a huge difference to us. You know his commitment to the team has just been absolutely incredible. He’ll play it down because he’s modest, but it’s just everyone just watches in absolute, nothing but the most amount of respect you could ever have for someone.”

There is no doubt that Murray is pivotal to the team and the prospect of a deep run at the O2 and potentially three key ties will now be at the back of his mind for the rest of the year, confirming he would be playing in Shanghai, but we should not be expecting him to be competing every week to defend the titles he won in the run up to his qualification last year.

And so we sign off from Glasgow. At the time of writing we still don’t know who they will be meeting and where the tie will be, but once more history beckons at the shoulders of Andy Murray.

Ros Satar is a regular contributor to 10sballs.com and runs Britwatch Sports (@britwatchsports), because we Brits like watching sport. Occasionally we’re good at it.

Britain’s Andy Murray celebrates winning against Australia’s Bernard Tomic during the Davis Cup semi final tie between Britain and Australia at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Britain, 20 September 2015. EPA/ROBERT PERRY

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Australia, Bernard Tomic, Davis Cup, Great Britain, Tennis News

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

September 20, 2015 at 10:55 am

ONE STEP CLOSER TO ANOTHER SLICE OF HISTORY- GREAT BRITAIN BEAT AUSTRALIA 3-2 TO REACH THE #DavisCup FINAL, @rfsatar http://t.co/28WEf1Pg2a
rfsatar says:

September 20, 2015 at 10:55 am

RT @10sBalls_com: ONE STEP CLOSER TO ANOTHER SLICE OF HISTORY- GREAT BRITAIN BEAT AUSTRALIA 3-2 TO REACH THE #DavisCup FINAL, @rfsatar http…
ProdigyRep says:

September 20, 2015 at 10:59 am

RT @10sBalls_com: ONE STEP CLOSER TO ANOTHER SLICE OF HISTORY- GREAT BRITAIN BEAT AUSTRALIA 3-2 TO REACH THE #DavisCup FINAL, @rfsatar http…