Kyle Edmund won his second singles rubber of the weekend to steer Davis Cup champions Great Britain past Serbia on Sunday and into a mouthwatering semi-final clash against Argentina.
Edmund, ranked at 67 in the world, justified his position as his country’s top player in the absence of Wimbledon champion Andy Murray to see off Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 for an unbeatable 3-1 lead.
Britain go on to host Argentina who reached the semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Italy in Pesaro.
Argentina have won the last three Davis Cup meetings between the two countries, in 1981, 1989 and 2008, while Britain’s only win was in 1928 in the sleepy seaside town of Torquay.
Edmund had defeated Janko Tipsarevic on Friday in the opening singles as the hosts, Davis Cup champions in 2010, paid heavily for not being able to call upon Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, comfortably their top two players.
See also:
• Britain take a 2-1 lead over Serbia as Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot triumph in doubles
• No Andy Murray, no problem for Great Britain with Kyle Edmund leading Davis Cup charge
Lajovic levelled the tie with a win over James Ward before Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Filip Krajinovic in the doubles.
Argentina, who have never won the Davis Cup, saw Federico Delbonis defeat recently married Fabio Fognini 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 on Sunday.
Delbonis, the world No 40, had also pocketed the first point on Friday by beating Andreas Seppi, the world No 52, before Fognini saw off Juan Monaco in straight sets to level the quarter-final.
Juan Martin Del Potro, back in the team for the first time in four years, then teamed with Guido Pella to defeat Fognini and Paolo Lorenzi in the doubles.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sent France into the semi-finals after beating Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic to hand his team an unassailable 3-1 lead in Trinec.
World No 10 Tsonga beat 50th-ranked Vesely 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 7-5 in three hours and 28 minutes.
“The game was extremely hard, he’s a very experienced player,” Vesely told Czech Television.
“I’m sorry about the second set, I played well and if I had managed to win maybe things would have been different, but it’s hard to tell.”
In their quest for a first Davis Cup title since 2001, France will now face Croatia in the semi-finals who completed a stunning Davis Cup comeback from 2-0 down to beat the USA 3-2 Sunday.
Borna Coric clinched the quarter-final victory for Croatia with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jack Sock in the fifth and final rubber on the hard courts at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center in Portland, Oregon.
Croatia will now host France in September for a place in the final. It is the first time they have come back to win after losing the first two rubbers.
Coric started strongly against Sock, winning the first set in 36 minutes but then dropped a lengthy second set before closing it out.
He hammered 10 aces and won an impressive 70 per cent of his second serve points in the three-hour, three-minute match.
He clinched the victory when Sock mis-hit a backhand which sent the ball sailing high and wide. Coric then grabbed his hat and threw it high in the air before rushing over to hug his teammates.
“Borna showed us the last few years how tough he is,” said teammate and former US Open champion Marin Cilic.
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