Andy and Jamie Murray picked to play crunch Davis Cup doubles match

Despite struggling with a back injury and coming off a five-set doubles match on Saturday, Murray managed to find another peak performance to beat Tomic 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

“It was a long match, it’s so noisy, it’s hot and it’s draining with all the emotion of it from the first point until the last”.

It merely delayed the outcome of the opener – Murray took it 7-5, ending the set with a delicious drop shot that was acclaimed by possibly the biggest roar of the weekend.

Murray had endured four hours on court alongside his brother before seeing off Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth in Saturday’s doubles, but he could not have started any better as he launched two aces in his first three points.

Aggression was at the true secret according to Andy Murray as the hero himself got Great Britain off to an effective introduction to the Davis Cup semi-final conflict with Australia. At Brussels: Belgium 2 Argentina 2 (David Goffin bt Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-3, 6-1; Ruben Bemelmans & Steve Darcis lost to Carlos Berlocq & Leonardo Mayer 2-6, 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-7(5)).

We didn’t quite get the result we wanted but we did take a little bit out of Andy for tomorrow’s match. My back had been giving me a lot of trouble this week, the few days before the tie as well so that was the thing I was most concerned about.

Evans continued to cause his higher ranked rival problems in the fourth but, with the finishing line in sight, Tomic found some reserves to serve a love game to seal the match.

“I think everyone in the team wants to play”.

With the fans chanting his name, Darcis played superbly to move 5-1 ahead and then 6-2, and although Delbonis saved one more match point, Darcis would not be denied.

Australian captain Wally Masur isn’t completely ruling out thrusting Hewitt into the pressure cooker atmosphere at Emirates Arena for the first reverse singles following Tomic’s torrid day-one win over Dan Evans.

Murray, who won all three points in Britain’s quarter-final win over France, admitted he was feeling the strain but vowed to bounce back after the sapping doubles encounter.

Linette will play Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, who overpowered Croatian-born Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, 7-5, 6-2, in the final today.

Leon Smith, the Glaswegian who has quietly guided Great Britain from the brink of relegation to tier three of Euro/Africa Zone to the final in his five-year stint as captain, stressed the team effort involved but paid special tribute to the World No 3 for playing through the pain barrier.

Undeterred, Australia hit straight back, breaking Andy’s first service game of the crucial third set before Hewitt held for 3-0 and skipped to the changeover chair. There is a world of difference between playing a circuit match in Brisbane or Miami – where those first two meetings came – and one for your country in a Davis Cup semifinal.

Belgium are bidding to reach the final for the first time since 1904 while their last semi-final run before this year was in 1999.