Davis Cup Tennis 2015: Final Scores and Results from Semi-Finals Bracket
Andy Murray led Great Britain to a historic triumph over Australia in the Davis Cup semi-finals on Sunday, beating Bernard Tomic 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in Glasgow to hand his team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five tie.
Victory for Murray, which comes the day after he and brother Jamie won the all-important doubles rubber, means Great Britain will contest their first Davis Cup final since 1978, per BBC Sport.
They will face Belgium in order to lift the trophy in a showpiece occasion that will take place in November. The Belgians overcame a tough fight from Argentina to win their semi-final 3-2.
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Here are the results from the final day of the semi-finals:
| Andy Murray def. Bernard Tomic | 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 |
| Thanasi Kokkinakis def. Dan Evans | 7-5, 6-4 |
| David Goffin def. Diego Schwartzman | 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 |
| Steve Darcis def. Federico Delbonis | 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) |
Asked who he'd prefer to meet in the final, Murray told BBC Sport he'd be eager to meet the bigger challenge Argentina would pose, professing his "delight" to have made it through:
"Obviously I'm delighted to get through, we knew this would be difficult, Australia have so much depth and experience but we fought extremely hard all weekend. It would be an incredible achievement but there's a long way to go.
[...]
Argentina would be a tough match, it would obviously be good if they could get through and we can play in the UK.
"
Murray knew, realistically, all the pressure was on him. If he lost to allow Australia back to 2-2, world No. 72 Thanasi Kokkinakis would have been a heavy favourite to defeat world No. 300 Dan Evans in the decisive rubber.
Fortunately, Murray has never lost to Tomic, and he didn’t look like caving at any point in their third meeting, storming to an early 3-1 advantage. BBC Sport’s Piers Newbery hailed the Scot’s defence as a particular asset early on:
"Murray breaks for 3-1, amazing defence. Similar styles but so far Bernie not as good at being Andy as Andy: http://t.co/9IRNgR89eq #DavisCup
— Piers Newbery (@piersnewbery) September 20, 2015"
The Brit did look heavy-footed, understandably so after the near-four-hour epic of Saturday’s doubles, and he momentarily lost rhythm when serving for the first set at 5-3, allowing Tomic to break at the second attempt.
It was the first time Murray had lost more than three games to Tomic in a set, per TennisLive.net, but the Brit quickly recovered to break for the first set, taking it 7-5 after a sumptuous drop shot, per the official Davis Cup Twitter account:
Tomic, roared on by the forever-fired-up Lleyton Hewitt, needed to grab a foothold, but he lost his serve again for 3-1 in the second set, and this time Murray was not about to let his advantage slip.
He powered to 40-0 at 5-3, and when the Australian fired a backhand wild, wide and long, Britain moved within one set of the final:
"See how @andy_murray went two sets to love up against Tomic in Glasgow! https://t.co/l2JnrFXYPX
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) September 20, 2015"
Murray’s serve was a key weapon throughout, as he hit 11 aces across the first two sets, per the Telegraph’s Adam Hurrey. Rarely did Tomic find himself on the front foot, and he looked lost for ideas as the players emerged from their seats for the third set.
Trailing 40-0 on serve at 1-1, Tomic slashed a frustrated backhand into the net to hand Murray yet another break. He had hit double the amount of unforced errors at this stage and nearly half Murray’s number of winners, per Flashscore.com—the statistics accurately reflecting what was a one-sided match.
Murray’s ball-striking from the baseline was solid, and his angles were too much for his outclassed opponent. When he broke again for 5-2, the match was over.
Britain advance to a final that might have seemed unthinkable a mere handful of years ago, when they were limping around the lower tiers of the Davis Cup.
They’ll have little to fear when they get there as Belgium don't boast a singles player of Murray’s calibre. He’ll expect to guarantee his side two of the five rubbers. Then it will come down to the Murray brothers in the doubles, who have already proved on multiple occasions they simply won’t be out-fought.
Belgium 3-2 Argentina
David Goffin held his nerve and swept aside Diego Schwartzman in straight sets to level the score at 2-2 between Argentina and Belgium.
The 24-year-old was magnificent as he dismantled his opponent 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in one hour, 47 minutes. According to the tournament's official website, Goffin hit 13 aces and 38 winners and won six of 13 break points.
By contrast, his opponent managed just 17 winners, coughed up 49 unforced errors and was unable to take any of the four break points he earned against Goffin.
Tennis writer Leigh Walsh noted the result ensured the final rubber between Federico Delbonis and Steve Darcis would decide the match:
Despite playing for four hours on Saturday in the third rubber, Darcis was outstanding as he overcame the challenge of Delbonis.
The pair raced through the opening set in less than 30 minutes as both served well, with Darcis winning 20 of 23 points on his serve and Delbonis going 18-of-24, according to the tournament's website. The Belgian proved clinical in winning the only break point of the set.
The Argentinian responded with a strong set of his own as he returned much stronger than he had in the first, breaking Darcis twice to take the set 6-2.
Sets three and four were much closer as in the first set, but Darcis was simply more clinical in the key moments, breaking and holding to close out the third 7-5 and again breaking again early on in the fourth.
Delbonis broke back twice and saved two match points to eventually pull level at 5-5 before forcing a tiebreaker, but Darcis held his nerve to see out the win. Walsh gave context to the historic victory:
Belgium will undoubtedly feel confident ahead of the final thanks to the strong performances from Goffin and Darcis and their home-soil advantage.
However, Great Britain have a phenomenal chance of winning in no small part due to Murray, who was pivotal in securing all three of their points in the semi-final.
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