Murrays give Britain 2-1 Davis Cup lead

Indeed, only five of 42 finals since the abolition of the competition’s challenge round in 1972 have been won by the team which lost the doubles. Playing for a place in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters hardly compares to squaring-off with the Davis Cup looming over the clay. The king and queen greeted the players on the court the first day; Kim Clijsters has been in the stands throughout. Even though he was playing people that were just outside world top 100 they were still very good clay-courters.

“My legs just started to get exhausted”.

“To play in a Davis Cup final with your brother, and to win a point for your country is obviously great”, he said.

But it was only Edmund’s sixth best-of-five-set match, and only once had he actually played more than three sets, when he won the only grand slam victory of his career against Stephane Robert at the French Open this summer.

The first match of the day saw Belgium’s no. 1, David Goffin, take on Britain’s rising star Kyle Edmund.

Andy Murray levelled the score at 1-1 in the Davis Cup final with victory over Ruben Bemelmans in a feisty match after Kyle Edmund’s debut ended in a heartbreaking defeat. That meant he wouldn’t be as exhausted as he could have been heading into Saturday’s doubles match. The Murray’s would grab it; not only breaking the Goffin serve, but grabbing the set 6-4.

Andy kept up his run of not dropping his serve – one he would finish the match with – to claim the set. “We may never get the chance to do that again, so we have to enjoy that”.

The Belgians served out for the second set after Jamie was broken for the first time in the third game and in the third set Murray senior dropped serve twice. Goffin took advantage of his slight relent, and eventually sped to a 3-6 1-6 6-2 6-1 6-0 triumph. Wrapped in a Union Jack flag, Kim – alongside Andy’s cousin, Josh Murray – seemed each inch the proud mother-to-be as she shouted support from the sidelines.

Then came the decisive game with the Britons saving seven break points. It was plain that whichever team gathered that set would take command of the rubber, and therefore of the final. And this, their third doubles match of the year, was hardly a relaxing afternoon in the shed for the 1,000-odd British supporters.

The break came in the next game following a double fault by Darcis and a volley error by Goffin.

The British serve appeared in trouble once more during game number nine as they trailed 0-30 and Darcis engineered a break point as he followed a poor overhead shot with a lovely cushioned volley. Belgium earned three more break points, but the brothers refused to go down. “We’re all going to be ready to fight again”, said van Herck.

The brothers threw their hands in the air in celebration, hugged, then went to the bench to celebrate with their teammates. They only stopped once they realized Andy was trying to thank them. I did say that before the tie started. “Hopefully we can get the job done”.

Britain competed in the first ever Davis Cup in 1900 and has played every year since, spending decades in the doldrums before reaching the final in 2015.

“It is far from over”, he said.

“Even if I was to lose against Goffin, I think we have a very good chance in the fifth rubber, whoever plays for them”.

“I serve bad (at) the end of the first set and also in the second set”, Ferrer said.