Familiarity breeds success as far as Britain’s Davis Cup team are concerned and relying on the tried and tested formula looks like paying dividends in the first step of their title defence.
Captain Leon Smith decided to dispense with caution and so far has been rewarded for his enterprise in throwing Andy Murray into three straight days of competition against Japan at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena.
Together with elder brother Jamie, the world’s second-ranked player powered to a comprehensive 6-3 6-2 6-4 win in the doubles against the Japanese duo of Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama — and rarely has he appeared more motivated. Now all that remains is a glorious finale today in this first-round tie.
The British team have certainly been here before, leading 2-1 in a tie with the final day’s singles to come and Andy Murray first to play. The only difference this time is that Japan’s Kei Nishikori is an opponent in an altogether different class to the fall guys from Belgium, Australia, France and the United States who were beaten in last year’s victorious campaign.
History is on Murray’s side against world No 6 Nishikori. Although today’s 26-year-old opponent is the highest-ranked singles player he has faced in Davis Cup singles, he holds a 6-1 advantage from past meetings and scored two emphatic wins in their two most recent encounters last year.
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“I’m playing well and I’ve got a good record against Kei so hopefully I can produce another good performance,” said Murray who appears to have benefitted from taking a month away from tennis to enjoy the role of father to his new daughter Sophia.
“I feel absolutely fine after playing two matches in two days but it’s been nice that both matches have been over relatively quickly,” he said.
“It can take a toll if you are out there for three hours in the doubles but that was not the case. There are no niggles, I’m not sore anywhere so hopefully I will have all the energy I will need for the last day. But Kei has played a bunch of matches in the last few weeks so the doubles was good today to help me get my eye in.”
Murray has established an unbeatable reputation on home territory in singles stretching back over his entire Davis Cup career. He is intent on extending his winning run to 20 rubbers today.
Murray scored a 6-3 6-0 win over Nishikori in the Montreal semi-final last August and three months previously he was only a little less dominant in winning 6-3 6-4 at the same stage in Madrid. On both occasions the Scot went on to win the title.
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Smith could easily have slotted Dominic Inglot alongside Jamie Murray and still have been confident of coming up with the requisite win, though he was expecting Nishikori to play a part in the doubles.
Deciding against prudence, unlike his opposite number Minoru Ueda, Smith stuck with his tried and tested formula and it paid dividends.
The miserly Murray brothers did not allow their Japanese opponents a solitary break point throughout the 1hr 53min contest and pulverised the pair into a distinct inferiority complex.
“We got so much pressure from Andy,” said Nishioka whose doubles ranking stands down at a lowly 426. “We did not know how to stop his force and every game was tough against him.”
The more experienced Uchiyama, slightly higher at world 317 on the doubles rankings, was no less intimidated.
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“We thought Britain would play Andy and Jamie in the doubles and all the way through we were feeling a lot of pressure from Andy, especially on his returns. It was very difficult for us all the way through.”
Although Andy Murray’s returning was up to his normal standard, his serving in the two matches he has played in Birmingham has been exemplary and another eight aces flew from his racket yesterday, the last a searing outswinging delivery that secured the victory.
Still his elder brother also played a very significant part. Last year’s Davis Cup victory, followed up by January’s Australian Open men’s doubles title, has clearly made Jamie a far more confident performer and to borrow the words of his brother, he is now one of the world’s best net players. Some of the volleying coming off Jamie’s racket was brutally forceful, other shots were gloriously deft and angled in their execution and there really was no answer coming from across the net.
Now a place in the quarter- finals certainly beckons today but the opposition might not be quite as expected. Serbia fell behind 2-1 in their tie against Kazakhstan in Belgrade, with world No 1 Novak Djokovic and the hugely experienced doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic losing 7-5 6-2 6-4 to Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
Now both Djokovic and Vicktor Troicki, beaten by Mikhail Kukushkin on Friday, must win today but if Britain and Kazakhstan are successful, Smith’s team would again have home advantage, with lots already been drawn.
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In Australia’s Davis Cup clash with the United States, team captain Lleyton Hewitt came out of retirement to replace Sam Groth in the doubles match.
Showing his characteristic combatitive spirit, Hewitt and partner John Peers pushed the American pair of Mike and Bob Bryan to five sets but went down 6-3 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-3, leaving the US with a 2-1 lead before the return singles.