Andy Murray beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as Great Britain level quarter-final with France

ByBen Snowball

Updated 17/07/2015 at 19:22 GMT

Andy Murray shrugged off his Wimbledon disappointment to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5 7-6(10) 6-2 and restore parity in Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final with France.

Murray, who was outclassed by Roger Federer at the All England Club last week, did enough to subdue Tsonga without reaching his greatest heights at Queen’s.

Both players’ serves came under pressure during a tense opening set, with Murray eventually making the decisive breakthrough in the 12th game to whip the home support into a frenzy.

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Tsonga broke immediately at the start of the second set, but the momentum shifted when he took a heavy tumble on the baseline as Murray broke back to force a tie-break.

An ominous hush soon descended on West Kensington as Murray appeared to tweak his groin during the breaker before cautiously tip-toeing through the following points.

Andy Murray after a fall during GB v France

Image credit: Reuters

That silence turned to elation, however, when the British number one got his racket on a 137mph serve to take it 12-10 and earn a two-set advantage.

And an ailing Tsonga could offer little resistance as Murray tore through the final set to level the tie at 1-1.

"Both of us served extremely well in that second-set tie-breaker," Murray said on court afterwards. "I got a bit lucky as I stuck my racket out on a 137 miles an hour serve and luckily managed to return it.

"There was a great atmosphere and a lot of people were asking me 'it is the Queen's Club, will it create a Davis Cup atmosphere?' and they proved them wrong today.

"It was absolutely fantastic and a pleasure to play in front of a crowd like that and we will need this support over the next couple of days if we are going to get the win.

"There is always extra pressure and extra nerves when you play for your country but I always enjoy it and I managed to play well today against a top player."

Murray admitted his desire to play in the doubles rubber on Saturday, but GB captain Leon Smith would not be drawn on his selection plans.

Earlier on Friday, Gilles Simon coasted past James Ward in straight sets to hand France the lead.

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