Murray brothers offer fresh hope to Great Britain in Davis Cup

The older Murray brother will only play in the doubles rubber on Saturday and will therefore be able to go to the funeral.

Gordon Murray, the father of Andy and Jamie’s father Willie, died last week.

Britain is the defending Davis Cup champion.

Murray, waiting on a let call that never came, stopped playing to allow Del Potro to seal the point that moved him 5-3 ahead.

Murray rallied and pulled into a 2-1 lead as the match ticked past three hours.

“Our ambition was to get into the World Group, and it is great we did that”, Nadal said. ‘He played unbelievable the whole match’.

“It was tough, obviously. We are 2-1 down and it is a tough position to be in, but it is a better position that we were in at the beginning of the day and I still believe we can come back”.

The match pitted the pure power of del Potro and Mayer from the baseline against the Murray brothers fast reflexes and sharp angles at net.

Out of the game for almost two years and forced to undergo three wrist operations, Del Potro was close to retiring but instead has made himself a force once again. “From the first point to the last, the crowd was something else”.

He said: “Of course I didn’t expect to play eight hours in two days”. You can definitely guarantee I’ll give it my best effort to win.

“Andy returned wonderful. We’re back in the tie”.

“We’re going to need the Glasgow roar tomorrow”.

Del Potro wasn’t slated to play in the doubles and was a surprise late change by Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic, especially given the player’s injury problems in recent years.

Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in action against Great Britain on Day Two of their Davis Cup semi-final at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, on Saturday.

Still, Murray brothers saved their best tennis for the end, taking the final 3 games to clinch the set 6-4 and retake the overall lead to 2-1.

Mrs Murray said: “I actually think Jmie will be a really good coach if he decides to go into that when he stops playing”. Murray goes into the tie having suffered the disappointment of being knocked out in the quarter-finals of the US Open by Kei Nishikori in NY last week, but the world number two says he will dig deep for “one more big push” to help his side as they bid to successfully defend their title. But I knew that he liked these conditions. “You have to pay credit to Guido and Juan Martin, they played well”.

Andy Murray endured the longest match of his career as he lost a five-set thriller to Juan Martin del Potro in the Davis Cup.

“It’s quite emotional. We played a great match”. Edmund, who was the hero of Team GB’s quarterfinal upset of Serbia in Belgrade, or Dan Evans, who does not possess the power of Edmund, but is a quicker player with a more versatile game? Perhaps neither of the Murrays is the senior player, with the doubles court the only place where they are truly equals. Their court sense helped close the third set.

He broke the Slovak’s serve for a third straight game to seize the early advantage in the second set and secured a two-set lead with his fifth ace.