Andy Murray beats Gilles Simon

But Hewitt and Groth kept the Australians in the tie with a straight sets doubles win over Andrey Golubev and Nedovyesov on Saturday, setting up a tense final day.

His troubles deepening, Murray threw his racquet to the turf to a chorus of jeers from the jubilant French fans and Simon could have clinched a double break, and surely a two-set lead, if he had converted another break point at 4-2.

Murray, who beat Tsonga in singles on Friday, took a tumble on Saturday and hurt his hip, but said he’ll be OK for Sunday. It’s a bit different when I play with Jamie in the Davis Cup.

Andy Murray (right) and his brother Jamie at the end of the doubles match at Queen’s Club.

But he is ready to play through the pain when he faces either Gilles Simon, or potentially Richard Gasquet, in the first singles today.

The Scot was playing his third match in as many days and fatigue looked to have taken its toll when he trailed Simon by a set and a break, but the Scot dug deep to win 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 6-0.

After all the discussion surrounding his inclusion, Andy Murray was arguably the weak link for the opening set and it was his serve that was broken in the very first game.

“For us it is hard to be 2-1 down tonight”, Clement said. And though he had a 12-2 deficit against Murray, he had won their last match in Rotterdam. I was making too many mistakes but I didn’t care how I played. I had to pay attention on every shot. I just wanted to win. I felt it from the warm-up. But Simon’s advantage was tested late in the set when he slipped on the slick court at Queen’s Club.

There were numerous falls over the three days, with Simon twisting a knee and an ankle in two tumbles on Sunday.

France captain Arnaud Clement said he wouldn’t make an official complaint, but he supported Simon’s criticism. In nearly 10 years of playing on grass I nearly never fell.

Argentina, a four-time runner-up, last met Belgium, the runner-up in 1904, in 1948.

“I was surprised to be down that often but it was the same court on both sides”.

It had taken him a good two hours to locate something like his best tennis – and now it was his turn to for an early break, as they settled in for what both of them suspected would be an almighty fight to the line.

“I lost to Fognini previous year when physically I wasn’t ready to get to the level I needed after back surgery”.

Let us not be accused of allowing the dust to settle – let’s talk semi-final venues for the home tie from 18-20 September. Submissions must be with the ITF by early August.

The preferred choice is likely to be the hard courts at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena, where a fantastic atmosphere inspired Britain to victory against the United States in March. They could just as easily be laid in Birmingham, London – anywhere with a sizeable arena.

In September’s semi-finals, the winners are likely to face Kazakhstan who piled on the problems for Australia in hot and steamy Darwin by opening a 2-0 lead. The Quarter Finals are now within their reach and a win tonight against French hopeful Gilles Simon.

“It was so far from our homeland and was of course very inconvenient for us”, said Martinez.