Davis Cup: Great Britain On Brink After Murray and Hutchins Lose Doubles

Andy Murray was unable to make a difference in Great Britain’s doubles rubber as they crashed to a three sets to one defeat against Poland.

Partnering doubles specialist Ross Hutchins in a must-win clash, the pair went down 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 in just over three hours at the Echo Arena.

Anyone thinking Britain would have an easy passage back to the World Group against Poland need to pay more attention to what’s going on in the doubles.

While their singles players might not yet be gracing the top 50, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski are one of the best doubles partnerships on the ATP Tour, and as a team, currently ranked No. 11.

By comparison, Ross Hutchins along with Australian partner Stephen Huss, are only ranked No. 27, with Hutchins individually ranked as No. 37.

The Brits were a good match for their opponents in the opening set and had a break point in the fourth game, but Fyrstenberg held on, while three break points were also squandered in the sixth game.

The crucial moment in the first set came in the 10th game as Hutchins let a 40-15 lead disappear as the Poles finally broke their opponents, and Fyrstenberg served out the set.

Trying to protect Murray’s injured wrist, it was decided Murray would play from the deuce court before the game, but they swapped to their more familiar positions for the second set, and Hutchins appeared to grow in stature.

They finally achieved their first break of the match in the eighth game of the second set courtesy of a Murray forehand to take a 5-3 lead, before Murray then completed a solid service game with an ace to take the second set.

Despite dropping a set the Poles continued to dominate, and Murray had to save an early break point, before being broken in the sixth game. Hutchins was also struggling with his serve, facing a break point to lose the set in the eighth game, but he managed to delay the inevitable, before Matkowski closed out the third set.

Britain had a great opportunity in the fourth set when they again found themselves with three break points, but they were cancelled out by some solid doubles play by the Poles who won the next five points in a row to take the game and broke Murray for a 3-2 lead.

With the match looking increasingly unwinnable for the Brits, the Poles broke again to go 5-2 ahead, and then the match got heated at 5-2 after Murray called a foot fault that wasn’t picked up by the linesman or chair umpire.

Hutchins then took up the complaint that Fyrstenberg‘s back foot was visibly beyond the centre line, and had been at several times throughout the match without being called.

Both coaches became involved and the match referee even came on to the court for a brief moment as everyone had their say, but it only delayed the inevitable as Fyrstenberg served out the match.

Poland deserved their win, playing the key points better than Murray and Hutchins and taking their opportunity to break, while the Brits, managed to convert just once, despite several break points.

Defeat means that Murray and Dan Evans both must win their reverse singles matches on Sunday if Britain is to win the tie, and retain their status in Group I.

Given the problem with his left wrist, it isn’t a foregone conclusion that Murray will win against the powerful 6’7” Jerzy Janowicz in the first rubber on Sunday, but his all-round game should eventually come through.

Great Britain captain John Lloyd said on Saturday that he planned for the tie to go to the final rubber, and if Murray can win that will give British No.5 Evans an opportunity to make a name for himself against Michal Przysiezny, a player ranked 376 places below him on the ATP Tour.