Britain, Argentina move to within 1 win of Davis Cup final

Australia’s Bernard Tomic beat Dan Evans in four sets after Andy Murray gave Britain the early lead to leave its Davis Cup semifinal at Glasgow level at 1-1 on Friday. He picked up pace in the fourth set, overcoming a 0-3 deficit to clinch it 6-3 and wrapped up the deciding set 7-5 to put the 2014 champions in the lead after over three hours of play.

Darcis and Bemelmans got off to a sluggish start but saved 16 of 21 break points they faced before the Argentine pair prevailed 6-2, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 7-6 (5).

At Tashkent, the 29th-ranked Sock was rarely in trouble against the little-known Dustov, who is ranked 129 places lower, winning his first career Davis Cup match 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

“It isn’t my decision”.

“It’s fantastic”, Murray said on court.

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.

Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli, top, left, and his double…

Switzerland, which won its first Davis Cup title a year ago , stays in the 16-nation World Group though perhaps without Federer.

At Geneva, Federer cruised and Stan Wawrinka labored in lifting Switzerland to a 2-0 lead over the Netherlands in its World Group playoff.

“He moves so fast on the court – he’s like a ghost”, said Huta Galung of Federer.

Wawrinka opened the proceedings playing against Thiemo de Bakker and found himself in a spot of bother trailing by a couple of sets.

“I lost my head”, admitted de Bakker.

In other play-off results, Czech Republic took a 2-1 lead over India, Adam Pavlasek and Radek Stepanek pulling off a fairly straightforward 7-5 6-2 6-2 victory over Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes.

Dominican Republic and Germany too had a halved day of wins and losses.