DAVIS CUP TIE GREAT BRITAIN AGAINST JAPAN – BY APRIL TOD

Written by: Staff on 7th March 2016

DAVIS CUP TIE GREAT BRITAIN AGAINST JAPAN - BY APRIL TOD |

#GBRJPN #Murray takes a 2-set lead clinching the tiebreak 8-6 & Great Britain are one set from the quarterfinals – Photo by @DavisCup via Twitter.

Great Britain, the defending Champions beat Japan in their first Davis Cup round 3 -1 to set up a quarter finals tie against Serbia on home ground in the next round. All knew that this was going to be a tough tie for Team GB.

Friday’s matches were routine wins for both countries with both top players winning their matches. Murray had little trouble beating Taro Daniel in three sets, 6-1,6-3,6-1 while Nishikori had a tougher time against the versatile and lower ranked player Dan Evans who to his credit fought hard before going down in three straight sets, 6-3,7-5,7-6.

In Saturday’s doubles the Japanese chose not to play Nishikori and replaced him instead with Yoshihito Nishioka while Leon Smith felt it best to play the two brothers, Andy and Jamie, this meant Andy replaced a disappointed Dom Inglot, a doubles specialist who had hoped to make his Davis Cup debut. Although this proved be another routine win for the Murray brothers winning 6-3,6-2,6-4 who after their match announced they would play doubles in the Rio Olympics

Everything boiled down to Murray winning the reverse singles on Sunday which put Murray under a lot more pressure. On the other hand it was Kei Nishikori was the more refreshed player.

By all accounts the nail biting reverse singles on Sunday between Murray and Nishikori had everyone sitting on the edge of their seats and by far the most exciting match of the tie.

When Murray raced to a two set lead everyone sighed a deep sigh of relief but it was in the third set that things started to go wrong with Nishikori sensing Murray tiredness when making easy mistakes, he upped up his game a couple of notches and broke early in both sets. By fifth set Murray looked and appeared exhausted but somehow found an inner strength to revitalise his game, dug deep and fought hard for every point producing another extraordinary Davis Cup performance to win the fifth deciding set. Both players had upped their game and produced some of the scintillating and exciting tennis with long and exhausting rallies but it was Murray who eventually able to slog it out in just under five hours.

“I’ve been away from for five weeks and my body is very sore, maybe I wanted to win too much and I was getting frustrated”, he said after the match.

“With every game you know you’re getting closer. At the beginning of the fourth set I felt a bit slow and sluggish. In the fifth you just try and fight for every single point. I thought I did well to come through physically”.

#DavisCup @DjokerNole & @andy_murray are both in action. Keep up-to-date with our live blog! – Photo by @DavisCup via Twitter.

Topics: Atp, Davis Cup, Great Britain, Japan, Sports, Tennis

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Vamos_feli says:

March 7, 2016 at 10:47 am

RT @10sBalls_com: #DavisCup Tie #GreatBritain Against #Japan – By April Tod
https://t.co/0YNwIGRk1S @DavisCup #DavisCup2016 https://t.co/S…