Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury lost a late night double as Great Britain were beaten 2-1 by the United States in their Davis Cup group opener. With the clock ticking to 01:00 BST in Glasgow, the pair lost 5-7 6-4 7-5 to Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock to settle an agonizingly close tie. Britain’s Cameron Norrie had fought back to beat Taylor Fritz and draw level after Dan Evans lost to Tommy Paul. GB play two more ties in Glasgow as they aim for the knockout stages in November. A minute’s silence was observed at the start of the tie at the Emirates Arena following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the British players are wearing black armbands or armbands for their three Group D ties this week. Great Britain play the Netherlands on Friday and Kazakhstan on Sunday as they seek one of the two qualifying spots in the group. Each nation plays two singles matches and one doubles match against their group opponents in a best-of-3 sets format. There are three more host cities this week as 16 nations chase places at November’s finals in Malaga.
Late finish “not ideal” – Murray
Murray and Salisbury kicked off their match at 22:00 BST after the previous two matches went to three sets, with Murray saying the late start and subsequent 00:58 finish was not “ideal”. “There’s probably half the people in there at the end of the race that were there at the start,” the 35-year-old said. “It’s a bit of a shame because, well, they lost a great match. “It’s probably not because they didn’t want to stay. If you have children here, you cannot stay with them. [If] you have to take a bus or train home, [you] I can not do it”. Murray and Salisbury raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, but then dropped three games in a row before breaking through in a lengthy 12th game that took Murray to within six seconds. Murray and Salisbury had the advantage of playing Salisbury’s regular doubles partner the Ram, with whom he had retained his US Open men’s doubles title last week. But of course this goes both ways and in the second set it was the Americans who found some rhythm. After falling 3-1, Sock and Ram let the Brits take just seven set points as they forced a deciding set, which they won with a Ram hit into the net after being broken to lead 6-5. There have been six group games so far this week in Glasgow and they have all gone to three sets, with play on both days being after midnight. Former world number one Murray said tennis in general needs to think about the issue of late finishes, saying it would be difficult for Team USA to play again on Thursday against Kazakhstan. “We’ve seen that obviously at the US Open even just last week,” he added. “It’s something that tennis needs to think about a bit. I don’t think it looks that professional.”
The crowd picks up Norrie but it’s not enough
The day had started with a high-quality race between Evans and Paul, which was as close as their world rankings would get, with the Briton ranked just four places higher than his American rival Paul at 25th in the world. Evans was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-4, meaning Norrie knew he had to win his match against Fritz to keep Great Britain in the tie. Norrie was out of sorts for much of the match until he took control of the second set tiebreak to win 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-5. The world number eight quickly found himself down a double break at 5-1 as the first set slipped away as he paid the price for 12 unforced errors in his opponent’s four. An early break in the second allowed Norrie to take a 3-0 lead, but he then gifted Fritz a break with a ferocious forehand. As music was not played in the arena as a mark of respect during the national period of mourning, it was up to the fans to create the atmosphere that could ignite Norrie. And they did. Football chants and drums played their part and then the Brit raised his own decibels with a roar as he fended off a break point to hold for 6-5, later carrying the momentum into the tiebreak which he dominated before serving. victory after a break in the ninth game of the deciding set. “Honestly, I owe it all to the crowd. You guys were amazing,” said Norrie, whose father David is from Glasgow and was in the stands watching. “I liked the atmosphere.” Murray and Evans both noted that the lack of music meant the end changes were much quieter than usual, with Evans saying “something was missing” and Murray adding “it’s not easy for a crowd to maintain an amazing atmosphere for 10 hours”. And while the crowd did their best to cheer Murray and Salisbury on into the night, the dream start to their home group stage was not to be.
