GB DAVIS CUP TEAM AHEAD AFTER DAY 2 AGAINST UZBEKISTAN
The GB Davis Cup Team claimed victory in the doubles to put GB 2-1 ahead against Uzbekistan after the second day’s play at the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Play-Off at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
Dom Inglot and Jamie Murray (GBR) fought back from a set down to convincingly beat Sanjar Fayziev and Denis Istomin (UZB) 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-2 6-3 and put the GB Team ahead going into the final day. The British pair were under pressure going into the second set with Fayziev/Istomin playing some great tennis, but dug deep and fought back to get through the tie break and turn it around in the next two sets.
After the match, Jamie Murray said: “I think we did really well today as a team to come through that. It’s important that we win this weekend so that we’re seeded for next year as there’s going to be more teams in that world group and there’s going to be a lot stronger teams, so it’s important that the boys can finish that tomorrow.”
In response to Andy not playing this weekend and taking up his role as Jamie’s Davis Cup doubles partner, Murray added: “For Leon, it’s good for him to know that Dom can step in and we can still be a good team. I spoke to him (Andy) yesterday and he text to say good luck. He really wanted to be here and playing but it just wasn’t possible with his continued rehab.”
Dom Inglot, who made his Davis Cup debut in 2014, said: “This was awesome because I’ve only played one other home tie and that was against the Bryan’s and that was a 5-set loss. Even though it was a really good performance by me and Jamie, it was a loss. I’ve had some wins but not on home soil so this one’s really special.”
GB Davis Cup Captain Leon Smith added: “We had over 6500 people in here today that have been excellent supporters every time we’ve brought Davis cup to Glasgow. People talked about this tie not meaning a lot but it certainly didn’t look like it the last two days. You saw yesterday 7 and 1/2 hours of tennis, you saw literally blood sweat and a lot of tears at the end of the matches. It shows you what’s at stake when it comes to playing here and I think tomorrow, I’ve heard the tickets sales are good with a lot of people coming, and we hope to send off what is the last stage of best of 5 matches.”
Tomorrow Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans will be back on court for their reverse singles matches and hoping to edge the GB Team to victory. After Norrie’s defeat on Friday night captain Leon Smith is confident that he’ll be put in a strong performace against Istomin, who has already played both days of the tie.
Leon said: “Cam’s a very good player, He’s ranked where he is for a reason. I think it should be a really good match and I have no qualms about him going out tomorrow and putting in a really good performance.”
The order of play for Day 3 is as follows:
Sunday 16th September (play starts at 12pm)
Denis Istomin (UZB) v Cameron Norrie (GBR)
Dan Evans (GBR) v Jurabek Karimov (UZB)
The World Group Play-Off will be available to watch online via BBC live events platform and through the British Tennis Facebook page.
Further behind the scenes content can be found across the tie weekend on the British Tennis homepage: www.lta.org.uk, Twitter @BritishTennis or Facebook (www.facebook.com/britishtennislta).
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Topics: 10sballs, Atp, British Tennis, Davis Cup, Glasgow, Great Britain, Jamie Murray, Sports, Tennis, Uzbekistan