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Andy Murray and Jamie Murray
Britain’s Andy Murray, right, and his brother Jamie celebrate after beating Argentina’s Juan Martín del Potro and Leonardo Mayer in the Davis Cup. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
Britain’s Andy Murray, right, and his brother Jamie celebrate after beating Argentina’s Juan Martín del Potro and Leonardo Mayer in the Davis Cup. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

Andy Murray ready to dig deep again for Great Britain in Davis Cup

This article is more than 7 years old
‘You can definitely guarantee I’ll give it my best effort’
Murray to face Guido Pella in Sunday singles after doubles win

It has been the best of years and a week of fluctuating emotions for the Murray brothers, but victory in the doubles match on day two of the Davis Cup semi-final against Argentina kept hopes alive that Andy can steer the defending champions towards the final in the reverse singles on Sunday.

Nearing the end of a summer when he has won his second Wimbledon title and another Olympic gold medal, the younger Murray is scheduled to play Guido Pella, who beat Kyle Edmund on day one. If he wins, it is almost certain the responsibility of winning the tie will fall to Dan Evans in the closing match in the Emirates Arena against Juan Martín del Potro.

Only twice in 117 years of Davis Cup competition have Great Britain come from 2-0 down to win the tie: against Germany in 1930 and against Russia three years ago in Coventry, where Evans, not far from his home city Birmingham, played a crucial role.

The winner here meets the winner of the tie being played in Croatia, where the home team took a 2-1 lead over France on Saturday.

Away from the stress and glory of their sport, the Murray brothers had to deal with the recent death of their paternal grandfather, Gordon, who was buried on Friday. However, as Jamie said after their 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over del Potro and Leonardo Mayer: “It’s been a tough week for us, but we just had to try to park it for the afternoon and focus on what we needed to do. It’s one of those things you have to go through in life. It’s not easy, but it is what it is.”

He added: “We did a good job of getting out there and performing well and fighting as hard as we could. We deserved to win in the end.”

Victory not only saved the team but garlanded his most successful year. With his new partner, Bruno Soares, Murray won the Australian Open doubles and, this month, the US Open. That put him alongside Andy with three majors, as he had won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Jelena Jankovic in 2007.

He has dipped and soared since, reaching No1 in doubles rankings last year, two years after contemplating early retirement, and here he hit a peak of excellence that lifted his tired brother in the closing stages.

On Friday, Andy Murray played the longest match of his life, five hours and seven minutes, in losing to Del Potro, and will go on court on Sunday afternoon with more than eight hours on the clock.

Did he think he had enough left in the tank? “Yeah, I think so. Whether I win or not, I don’t know. You can definitely guarantee I’ll give it my best effort to win. It makes it interesting if it goes to a fifth rubber. I’m not going to be the fresher of the two in my singles. I’ll be tired but I’ll accept that and deal with it. I will try to play the match on my terms.”

He paid tribute to his brother. “I thought Jamie played great, from start to finish. He made a lot of returns throughout the whole match and made them work hard all of the time. When I struggled during the second and the beginning of the third set, he stayed right on it.”

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