GB’s Murray powers past Pella to level semi vs Argentina

The 53rd-ranked Evans still went down, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, to Mayer, who is ranked 114th.

After more than eight hours of tennis already in this tie and on the back of a gruelling summer, it was incredible he even had the energy to walk on to the court.

The team faced an uphill battle having trailed 2-0 from Friday after Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund lost their matches but a doubles win for Murray and brother Jamie had reignited hopes they could turn things around.

Victory in the fifth rubber would put Britain – who a year ago defeated Belgium in Ghent to win the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 – into a home final against Croatia in November.

Del Potro hinted after the doubles that he might not play on Sunday, should a fifth and final rubber be required.

After suffering defeat at Del Potro’s hands on Friday, Murray looked like a different player in Sunday’s outing, immediately pressing his Argentinian foe in no small part thanks to some phenomenal return play.

It faces Croatia in the final.

The host nation were given fresh hope of reaching back-to-back finals when former US Open champion Del Potro was rested for Sunday’s final rubber at the Emirates Arena having played for over eight hours over the first two days.

“I’ll be exhausted and I have to accept that and deal with it and try to play the match on my terms if possible”.

He was okay with playing on Saturday too: ‘I felt exhausted [in the morning] but it was normal and I agree with Daniel’s decisions.

The ethics of injury time-outs was a big topic at the US Open, with Johanna Konta recovering from an on-court collapse to beat Tsvetana Pironkova and then Novak Djokovic taking two in the final.

Playing in front of the most excitable tennis crowd in Britain, who again repeatedly let out what captain Leon Smith calls “the Glasgow roar”, Murray wasn’t going to let tiredness drag him, and his team, down.

Murray then broke his opponent in the opening game of the second before scudding in another ace and losing just one point on his own serve to take the break over a shell-shocked Pella.

However, the world number two’s class told when it mattered and he was able to muster breaks of serve in each set to maintain control of the match throughout.

However, the British player had no answer to the Mayer serve in the second set as he landed 17 of 18 of his first serves with the Argentine also twice breaking Evans to secure the set 6-3.