Wins from Andy Murray and the doubles duo of Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski secured Great Britain a 2-1 Davis Cup victory against Switzerland on Friday in Manchester.
Murray earned a marathon three-set win against Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi to earn Great Britain a 1-0 lead in the tie. Following the match, Murray shared that Friday was also the day of his grandmother’s funeral, which he was not able to attend.
“Gran, that one’s for you,” an emotional Murray said to close his on-court interview.
The Briton defeated Riedi 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4 in a three-hour, 10-minute marathon. Murray led 5-2 in the opening set and had two set points on return at 5-3, and a further two in the first-set tie-break, but he was forced to rescue the rubber from a set down to give Great Britain a 1-0 lead.
Murray broke twice in each of the final two sets to secure his 33rd Davis Cup singles win, hitting his third ace of the match to seal the victory.
“Incredible to get through that one. It easily could have gone the other way,” said Murray, who had prepared to face Dominic Sticker before learning an hour before the match that he would contest his first Lexus ATP Head2Head matchup against Riedi. “It was ridiculous, the shots he was pulling off. Amazing returning. I kept fighting, managed to stay focused and managed to turn it around.”
Stan Wawrinka levelled the tie with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Cameron Norrie, before Evans and Skupski clinched victory for the hosts with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Dominic Stricker and Wawrinka.
Great Britain defeated Australia 2-1 to open their Davis Cup Finals campaign on Wednesday and now improves to 2-0, topping Group B.
Italy edges Chile in Bologna
A pair of comeback, three-set singles wins saw Italy triumph against Chile. Matteo Arnaldi opened the tie with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win against Cristian Garin, before Lorenzo Sonego secured the host nation’s win with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory against Nicolas Jarry.
The result leaves both Italy and Chile at 1-1 in Group A. Italy opened with an 0-3 defeat to Canada, while Chile swept Sweden 3-0 in its first tie.