LONDON // Brothers Andy and Jamie Murray carried Great Britain to the brink of a Davis Cup semi-final berth after they beat France in the doubles rubber to take a 2-1 lead ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles.
Andy shrugged off a hip injury following a tumble on the slick grass as the Murray brothers registered a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Mahut at a sun-kissed Queen’s Club in west London. There had been some doubts whether the picturesque venue, renowned for being prim and proper, was the correct choice for hosting a Davis Cup tie.
However, a raucous crowd, draped in Union Jack flags and face paint, fervently roared on the Scottish brothers.
“I thought both of us served well – apart from the first game when I was broken I don’t believe they had any break point until Jamie’s last service game,” a fired up Andy said.
Andy received treatment to his groin and hip following a slip during the third set but the double grand slam title champion said he should be fit to compete in Sunday’s singles.
“It’s sore but there’s only one more match then I can rest after that,” he said.
Britain just need to win one of two singles matches against a strong French team – which also includes Gilles Simon and Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet – to reach their first Davis Cup semi-final since 1981.
The winners will face either Kazakhstan or Australia in the semi-finals in September after retiring former grand slam title champion Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth combined to defeat Kazakhstan in their Davis Cup doubles tie to keep Australia’s semi-final hopes alive. Australia were 2-0 down after Nick Kyrgios and 19-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis wilted on the grass courts in tropical Darwin on Friday.
But Hewitt, 34, and 68th-ranked Groth ensured the quarter-final would head into a third day by grinding out a tense 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 win over Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
For Hewitt, who has announced he will quit tennis after the next Australian Open in January, it was especially pleasing.
“It’s up there,” Hewitt said when asked what the win meant.
“I haven’t played too many doubles matches at 2-0 down when the pressure’s on.” On the other side of the draw, Belgium reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1999 when Ruben Bemelmans and debutant Kimmer Coppejans won the doubles for an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Canada.
Bemelmans and his fifth different partner in Davis Cup, Coppejans, beat Daniel Nestor and Canada’s own newcomer, Adil Shamasdin, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two-and-a-half hours on clay.
In the semis in September, Belgium will face Argentina, who hold an unassailable lead over Serbia at Buenos Aires.
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