Murray Brothers Keep British Hope Alive

Juan Martin del Potro delivered a huge blow to Britain's hopes of retaining the Davis Cup when he beat Andy Murray 6-4 5-7 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-4 in a five-hour thriller to give Argentina a 1-0 lead in their world group semi-final on Friday.

Having trailed 0-2 after the opening day of this semifinal against Del Potro's Argentina, Andy and Jamie Murray needed to win Saturday's doubles rubber to avoid elimination, but having done that, it still leaves Sunday's singles rubbers. "I think for the team it was the best option to play the doubles", Del Potro said.

Defeats for Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund left Great Britain's Davis Cup title defence hanging by a thread in Glasgow.

Murray bravely saved match point on his own serve two games later but, despite gutsy defence from the Brit, Del Potro held serve to hand Murray a first Davis Cup singles loss at home.

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. "To come out and get the win with Jamie today was great", three-time Grand Slam victor Andy said.

"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". "But we're closer than we were at the beginning of the day and I still think we can come back".

"I am so happy to be playing tennis again after three surgeries", he added.

Despite Jamie Murray needing treatment on a neck problem, Great Britain clinched the win with the first break of the fourth set.

"It's going to be tough", said Murray.

The main question before the contest got underway in the Scottish city was whether Olympic and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro would take to the court after they were involved in a five-set epic yesterday, won by the Argentine, which lasted more than five hours.

The victor here meets the victor of the tie being played in Croatia, where the home team took a 2-1 lead over France on Saturday. But in that match I was exhausted before the final. "That happens in tennis and sport sometimes when it could go either way and there wasn't much difference in the match", Murray said. "I fought for every point and tried the best that I could and that's all that you can do".

"Everyone obviously feels flat just now - that's normal".

"I'm very proud of how I fought, I did fantastic", said the Scot after his 6-4 5-7 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 defeat. "I don't know how I will recover".

"Dan Evans is likely to play in any fifth match for GB - but that will only be necessary if an equally exhausted Murray can first beat Guido Pella, who will be feeling a lot, lot fresher". But anyone with any previous exposure to Britain's Davis Cup ties must have realised this couldn't possibly continue in such a one-sided, straightforward manner, and the South Americans took the second set and were well-placed to snaffle the third, too, after breaking for a 4-3 lead.