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Scottish siblings Andy and Jamie Murray defeated Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth in the doubles of the Davis Cup semi-final, BBC Sport reports. The Murray brothers have handed Great Britain a sizeable advantage over Australia in the first leg of the semi-final round.
The pride of Britain is going to be restored in tennis thanks to the Murray brothers, who are just one win away from the Davis Cup final. It was a dramatic 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 victory, which has given the team a narrow 2-1 lead in the best-of-five tie in Glasgow. Two singles matches now remain – Andy Murray plays No 23 Bernard Tomic on Sunday, while compatriot Daniel Evans takes on Thanasi Kokkinakis. A win for either Briton will confirm a Davis Cup final against either Belgium or Argentina in November.
This will be the first final since 1978 when they finished as the runners-up in the competition.
“We fought till the end”
Despite facing some rough patches over the course of the match, younger Andy Murray is delighted with his brother’s partnership and persistence till the end of the match.
“It was an incredible match, to come back from the disappointment of losing the fourth set. We kept creating chances, we stuck together like brothers should and managed to come up with enough good returns,” the World No. 3 told BBC Two.
He further added "We had to keep the energy up at the beginning of the fifth set - it was important for us to get a good start."
Older brother Jamie has admitted they had to grind out the result and fight their way back when the Australian duo almost looked like stealing the win away from them.
"We let it slip a bit but we kept fighting and got right back on it. It was so good, it was so noisy, it was magic. Scottish people don't get the chance to see Andy play very much and when they do they let him know it."
The Australian camp on the other hand were bitterly disappointed to have lost the match, but they keep their heads held high and has admitted it had been an incredible match against the British duo.
"All Davis Cup doubles is a lot of ebbs and flows. We just kept fighting,” two-time Grand Slam winner Lleyton Hewitt said in the post-match interview.
Doubles partner Sam Groth said “obviously it hurts to lose a match like that, but for me it's an unbelievable thing to be able to pull on the green and gold and play in front of a crowd like that."
British pair showed composure in decider
It was a game of equal chances handed to both sets of players, but it was the Murray brothers who edged it after a nerve-wracking three hours and 56 minutes. When they led 30-0, with Andy Murray serving for victory, it appeared the win would be wrapped up in four sets.
The first two sets were split with a break apiece, and things were looking bleak for the home side at 4-1 down in the third. The Murrays showed great character on the defence to set up the crucial break back at 4-2 down and two games later Jamie smashed his way home to secure a second break.
Andy made it five games in a row to seal the set and the brothers were on the verge of replicating the kind of turnaround they managed against France in the quarter-final. However, the visitors fought back in the fourth and had three set points at 5-4, but the brothers’ victory were withing sight when Jamie battled back on serve and broke Hewitt for 6-5.
Hewitt’s backhand sent shockwaves around the arena as Australia were given a lifeline despite the 30-0 deficit. However, the Brits surged into a 3-0 lead, then the Aussies peg them back to 3-3 and finally Groth saved four break points in game seven.
The victory for the Australians almost came on Groth’s serve but Andy Murray had other plans when he pounced at the net followed with a forehand return.
A second match point had arrived and Groth blew with a long volley which was enough to give the Murray brothers a sweet victory in the Emirates Arena.
