OTTAWA, February 5, 2017 (by Elias Laradi)
Great Britain takes a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup with a win in the doubles. The British duo of Dominic Inglot and Jamie Murray overcame Canada’s Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor.
The first set was a tight affair as both teams were holding serve fairly comfortably. The 1st break point opportunity came for Great Britain at 3-4 but Canada was able to save it. The next chance was for Canada as they actually had a set point at 5-6 but Great Britain saved it to force a 1st set tie breaker. It was a totally one-sided tiebreaker as Great Britain dominated and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. They would go on to take the set.
Canada got off to a great start in the second set breaking the Brits in the first game. They held the one break lead till 4-3 when Britain had 3 chances to get the break back and go back on serve and they converted and the match was tied 4-4. Once again the match ended up in the tiebreaker but this time the Canadians jumped out to a 3-0 lead and would go on to win the breaker 6-3 to even the match at one set a piece.
The third set was super tight as both teams played well to hold their serves. At 4 all in the set Great Britain had a break opportunity but Canada saved both break points and once again we ended up in another tiebreaker. Once again it was the Brits who got the advantage when Vasek Pospisil doubled faulted on the 1st point and Great Britain took advantage of it to take a 4-0 lead. Once again another one sided tiebreaker as Great Britain took a 2 sets to 1 lead with 7-3 tiebreak win.
Into the fourth set and Great Britain was looking to finish Canada off. They got the opportunity and broke to lead 4-2 in the set. From there they finished off the match with a flourish to take a 2-1 lead in the tie with a 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 win.
“It was a 50-50 match going into it. We knew it would be close, because everyone knows how to play doubles. So we’re pleased to give the guys two bites at the cherry tomorrow. I think we did a great job. We stayed strong in important tie-breaks. Tight margins,” Murray told.
Sunday is the crucial reverse singles and Great Britain needs one more win to clinch the tie.
“Everybody wants to be 2-1 after Saturday but all in all we need to stick with the process,” Canadian team captain Martin Laurendeau said. “We’re still alive going into tomorrow and we’re just preparing for one match at a time. We will evaluate and regenerate everyone the best we can tonight and then re-evaluate where everybody stands tomorrow and just take care of that match and prepare the best we can prepare. We’ll just take it one match at a time. ”
