Murray pushes Great Britain on at Davis Cup, as Japan and Czech Republic follow

Agence France-Presse

Andy Murray beat Sam Querrey in four sets Sunday to send Great Britain into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup for the first time since 1986.

Wimbledon champion Murray posted his second singles victory of the tie, downing Querrey 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-1, 6-3 to capture the needed third point in a 3-1 victory in the best-of-five match tie.

Britain had seized a commanding 2-0 lead on the opening day on Friday as 175th-ranked James Ward pulled off a remarkable comeback win over Querrey.

Ward won 10 of the last 11 games to grab the five-set triumph, after Murray had crushed Davis Cup newcomer Donald Young in straight sets.

Young was a late replacement in the US squad for injured John Isner.

The formidable doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan had kept the Americans alive with a doubles victory over Colin Fleming and Dominic Inglot on Saturday.

However, Querrey couldn’t prevent Great Britain from posting their first Davis Cup win over the United States since 1935.

That winning British team was led by Fred Perry, putting Murray in Perry’s footsteps again after the Scot’s Wimbledon triumph last year made him the first British man to win at the All England Club since Perry in 1936.

While he delivered two of Great Britain’s three points, Murray said Ward’s magnificent rally against Querrey on Friday shouldn’t be overlooked.

“It’s obviously nice, you want to try and contribute as much as possible in these weeks,” Murray said.

“James had a great win against Sam the first day to put us in that position and it was up to me today to try and close it out.”

Murray, who had back surgery in September, needed two hours and 54 minutes to get past Querrey on the red clay court at Petco Park -- home of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres.

Murray and Querrey split the first two closely contested sets. Murray had a chance to serve out the first in the 10th game but was broken for the second time and they went to the decider.

In the second, neither man managed to gain a service break and Querrey took the tiebreaker, but he was unable to build on that momentum as Murray broke him twice en route to a 3-0 lead in the third frame.

Murray earned the break he needed in the sixth game of the fourth set, but had to fend off two break points in the final game before sealing the match when Querrey sent a service return out.

Murray let loose with a yell of delight, then celebrated with his teammates. The scheduled fifth rubber between Young and Ward was scrapped.

In the quarter-finals Britain will face Italy, who sealed a 3-1 victory over Argentina in Mar del Plata on Sunday.

“This is the first time I’ve been involved in Davis Cup that we’ve had a chance of winning the competition,” Murray said. “It’s obviously going to be extremely tough but we have a great team spirit.”

The United States will face a play-off to remain in the elite World Group.

Elsewhere, the Czech Republic kept their Davis Cup three-peat bid on track while Japan reached the World Group quarter-finals for the first time as first round ties concluded.

In Ostrava, the Czechs held the upper hand 2-1 going into the reverse singles against the Netherlands and Tomas Berdych bagged the all-important third point with a three-set win over lowly-ranked Thiemo de Bakker.

The Dutch claimed the final dead rubber when Igor Sijsling saw off Lukas Rosol giving the Czechs a 3-2 victory and a last eight date with Japan, who beat Canada in Tokyo.

There was an air of anti-climax about Japan’s feat after Canada’s Frank Dancevic retired injured from his rubber with Kei Nishikori.

Go Soeda thrashed Peter Polansky 6-1, 6-4 in the dead final rubber to complete a 4-1 rout over last year’s semi-finalists.

“It’s a bit hard being overjoyed to win like that but to make history is unbelievable,” Nishikori, the world No 18, reflected.

The Czechs may have to travel to Tokyo without their star player, world No 7 Berdych.

“I’ve won the salad bowl twice, I’ve given the team a lot over the past 10, 11 years. I’d say a rest would be fully deserved,” he had warned earlier.

At Mar del Plata, Fabio Fognini beat Carlos Berlocq 7-76 (7/5), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to give Italy a 3-1 advantage that stood up after the dead rubber was scrapped.

Fognini had beaten Juan Monaco on Friday and teamed with Simone Bolelli for a doubles win over Horacio Zeballos and Eduardo Schwank on Saturday as Italy overcame the hostile crowd.

“I’m happy to be part of this team and that we can play another Davis Cup tie,” Fognini said.

Serbia, trailing Switzerland 3-0, had only honour at stake in Novi Sad.

With the Swiss resting their top two players - Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka and Roger Federer - last year’s beaten finalists duly clinched the closing two academic rubbers courtesy of Filip Krajinovic and Dusan Lajovic.

The Swiss host Kazakhstan, who saw off Belgium 3-2 in Almaty, in the quarter-finals.

Germany, who held an unassailable 3-0 lead over five-time former winners Spain in Frankfurt, soured their win by claiming that three of their players were unfit to play.

That left the crowd and the Spanish short-changed, with the hosts unable to play the opening rubber of the day. Germany’s last man standing, Daniel Brands, beat Roberto Bautista Agut in the fifth rubber to complete a 4-1 win.

Germany will want to put the bad taste left by the last-day no-shows behind them as they move on to face France, who completed a 5-0 whitewash of Australia on the clay courts of Mouilleron-le-Captif.

Gael Monfils and Julien Benneteau handed out three-set defeats to Aussie teenager Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis respectively.

Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, teaming up for the first time, had claimed the decisive point in Saturday’s doubles against Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt.

The quarter-finals of the 114-year-old competition are scheduled for April 4-6.