Murray brothers put Great Britain on verge of Davis Cup final win
BySportsbeat
Published 28/11/2015 at 17:56 GMT
Great Britain took a giant step towards claiming the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 after doubles pairing Andy and Jamie Murray battled to a four-set win over Belgium's David Goffin and Steve Darcis.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
With the two teams level pegging after Friday's singles matches, Belgium captain Johan Van Herck opted to reshuffle his doubles pairing with number one player Goffin replacing Kimmer Coppejans.
And while making for a close encounter in front of a lively crowd at the Flanders Expo in Ghent, the Murray brothers eventually triumphed 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-2 to put Great Britain 2-1 up.
It means Leon Smith's team need just one win from Sunday's reverse singles matches to seal a historic win.
Andy Murray will play Goffin while Kyle Edmund is scheduled to face Ruben Bemelmans in the final match.
And, after reflecting on his doubles triumph alongside his brother on Saturday afternoon, Murray was now refocusing on Sunday's clash.
"We just needed to find a way to win more points on Jamie's return side, we got more aggressive and started to turn it around. It was a great tactical mix-up," he said.
"We have two chances to try and win it tomorrow and if you have offered us that at the start we would have taken it.
"I will prepare like any other match for tomorrow. He is a world-class player with the crowd behind him it will be a difficult match."
Despite winning in four sets, it proved to be far from straight forward for the Murray brothers against their spirited Belgium opponents.
The first two sets were tight affairs with Belgium then going a break up in the third.
But while Jamie Murray had initially appeared to struggle early on, he pounced at the net to level at 2-2 and Britain suddenly had the momentum, especially with younger brother Andy emphatically serving out the third set.
The pressure was now on Darcis who was unable to hold serve and, when Great Britain gained a key break in the fourth, the match was up, much to the delight of the travelling British fans.
Jamie Murray said: "There was so much noise, it was mental. We were shouting to each other at times but it's brilliant, and it's what you expect with so many passionate fans here for the final."
Sportsbeat 2015
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