Right, that’s it for this one. I’m off to MBM some football – but it’s well worth pausing for thought about what a special sportsman we have in Andy Murray, because he’s pulled off something exceptional there. Congratulations to him and Great Britain. Bye!
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Evans and Kokkinakis will play their rubber anyway, as it goes.
Murray: “It’s been a very tough weekend for me physically and mentally, there’s a lot of emotions out there, yesterday’s match was very tough one and turned out to be crucial. I’m very proud to be through to the final. It would be an incredible achievement (to win the Davis Cup), but whoever we play it would be a tough match.”
Great Britain are in their first Davis Cup final since 1978 and that was absolutely sensational from Murray. I don’t say it lightly. The wobble towards the end of the first set was a concern at the time but Murray, who looks physically and emotionally spent there now, absolutely obliterated his opponent in the end and showed unthinkable reserves of energy.
Murray wins 7-5, 6-2, 6-2!
Will there be a few nerves as Murray serves for something truly historic here, even at two sets and two breaks up? You wouldn’t blame him. The noise is deafening as he gets back up. Tomic thrashes a clean winner straight off his first serve to exacerbate any butterflies, but Murray quickly steadies the ship with a forehand that Tomic can’t get back over. Tomic is going for it with his returns here, as he must, but the next one is well wide. 30-15. Then he chases down a Murray drop shot successfully, but gets his angles wrong and it’s into the net – two match points! And that’s it! Tomic returns wide, and Murray has done it!
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Third set: Murray* 7-5, 6-2, 5-2 Tomic (*denotes next server) Murray is just working Tomic now and he forces a backhand mistake after moving him around with ease. Then Tomic just clips the line with a drive volley and, after an appeal, the second point is replayed. Tomic wins it, and the next one. He’s being outclassed but fair play, he’s not giving up. He then flashes down perhaps his biggest winner of the match for 40-15, and you wonder whether he might as well just try a bit more of that now. The net point sees a Tomic slice hit the top of the net – twice! – before falling kindly for Murray, and the Briton pulls it back to deuce on the next one. A break point follows as Tomic slices wide ... but Murray makes a rare error on the forehand to squander this one. We end up back at deuce after a couple more mistakes apiece, before Murray weights another backhand winner across court. Tomic saves this break point too, but concedes another. And Murray takes it – again after salvaging shots he simply had no right to be even contemplating returning! This. Is. Fabulous.
Third set: Murray 7-5, 6-2, 4-2 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray leaves Tomic standing dolefully on the baseline with a drop shot for 30-0. That was just too good. And then he does exactly the same again! Such composure, such quality. Then he aces, and moves a step closer to glory.
Third set: Murray* 7-5, 6-2, 3-2 Tomic (*denotes next server) Tomic wins the first point nicely, and the second. First we’ve really seen of him for some time – but you can’t blame him for not being able to live with Murray at the moment. He jams Murray in on the third point and forces a wide backhand. Then he strokes a pleasing backhand down the line and wins to love.
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Third set: Murray 7-5, 6-2, 3-1 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray chases everything down successfully on the first point, but then loses out to a lucky net cord. The next point is briefer and it’s 15-15, then he constructs a point well on his second serve to finish off at the net. An ace gives Murray 40-15. Another firms up that break.
Third set: Murray* 7-5, 6-2, 2-1 Tomic (*denotes next server) Murray sends Tomic one way and the ball the other with a backhand across the court, and then works Tomic into a lather crossways and lengthways to go 0-30 up. Tomic, who just cannot deal with Murray’s energy, then fluffs a basic drive volley and Murray has three break points. He takes the first one! He’s almost there!
Third set: Murray 7-5, 6-2, 1-1 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray goes 30-0 up uneventfully but cedes the third point after an incorrect challenge. The fourth is rather less ambiguous, aced once again, and then a wonderful, swinging second serve cannot be returned so that’s the game.
Third set: Murray* 7-5, 6-2, 0-1 Tomic (*denotes next server) You sense an early break for Murray here would finish Tomic. A clean backhand winner gets him going but it’s 15-15 soon enough, and then Tomic finds some spark with two unreturnable forehands. 40-15. Murray misses his next return and it’s first blood to Tomic in the third set.
Murray wins the second set 6-3, and goes two sets up!
An ace suggests he can. That’s 10 now. And then it’s 11, this one rather wider. 30-0. Now he has three set points as Tomic fluffs a drop shot that really didn’t need attempting. Then Tomic puts a backhand into the tramline and that’s the second set! I really can’t overstate just what an incredible effort Murray is producing here.
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Second set: Murray* 7-5, 5-3 Tomic (*denotes next server) Murray levels at 15-15 with a delicious forehand pass, and takes the next point by doing exactly the same with his backhand. Tomic has some of that, and clobbers a forehand winner of his own. 30-30. Murray then challenges a backhand called out, which looked out from here, and indeed the call was good. 40-30. He then nets a return and, as per the first set, he must serve this out. Can he do it at the first time of asking this time?
Second set: Murray 7-5, 5-2 Tomic* (*denotes next server) This is going much like the first set but there are no signs of any disintegration in Murray’s game just now as he goes 30-0 up, although Tomic does win a challenge to replay the third point. Doesn’t matter – Murray aces for 40-0. He then puts down his first double fault of the match, but a good, wide first serve then forces Tomic into an error that puts him 5-2 up.
Simon McMahon says: “You’re right, Nick, Andy’s effort this week has been superhuman whatever happens today. I know there’s a big team ethic in the Davis Cup, and others have played their part, particularly Jamie Ward against the USA back in March and Jamie Murray in the doubles but let’s be honest, GB would be nowhere near the final without Andy.”
Second set: Murray 7-5*, 4-2 Tomic (*denotes next server) The pair trade points early on, before a fine Tomic first serve comes off Murray’s frame for 30-15. Murray seems to have put down a forehand winner next, but it’s correctly called out and Tomic claws his way back in again with another ace.
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Second set: Murray 7-5, 4-1 Tomic* (*denotes next server) An easy hold would be nice for Murray here but it’s 15-15 after one drop shot too many – this one doesn’t clear the net. His next serve does: it’s an ace. So’s the next one. And the next one! Big, big hold.
Second set: Murray 7-5, 3-1 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray levels this one at 15-15 with a remarkable piece of play, salvaging what seemed a pointless cause out wide and then, before you knew it, hitting a backhand winner. A backhand pass then gives him a 15-30 lead, and he’s really back in the groove after that earlier blip. He is returning some quite simply unreturnable balls here and his persistence on the fourth point wears Tomic down into putting the simplest of overheads into the net! Two break points, and he takes it on the first one! That was some astonishingly good tennis from Murray and a crucial, crucial break.
Second set: Murray 7-5, 2-1 Tomic* (*denotes next server) What a point from Murray there! A rally that had it all, including some drop-shot brinkmanship from Murray midway through, ends in the most perfect of lobs. 15-0. Then Tomic gets a measure of revenge with a nicely executed drop shot of his own, catching Murray too far back. He’s playing well, make no mistake, but he hits the next one long for 30-15 and then misses badly after getting on top of yet another Murray drop shot and giving himself a big chance. Murray serves out the final point, showing what the margins are in this sport.
Second set: Murray* 7-5, 1-1 Tomic (*denotes next server) Tomic wins the first three points well, and then Murray nets a return to give the Australian his simplest hold yet.
Second set: Murray 7-5, 1-0 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray won that first set, lost it and then won it again – absolutely remarkable reserves of fitness from him here. That really must be stressed, whatever unfolds now. He begins the second set with an ace and a fluffed slice, so it’s 15-15. A netted forehand from Tomic and a long return bring up 40-15, and then Tomic proves rather less effective at drop shots as his attempt sits up and is gobbled up for the game.
Murray wins the first set 7-5!
Good start from Murray, as he stays patient in a long first rally to force the mistake. 0-15. Then 0-30 as he benefits from a Tomic forehand sitting up off the net, allowing him to set up a perfect approach shot and volley. Tomic then misses what in football they’d call an absolute sitter, perhaps put off by Murray’s movement, and Murray now has three set points! The first is saved in an exhausting rally during which you can hear Murray gasping. The second is well constructed and put away by Tomic, so it’s 30-40. The third is WON with a delightful, drifting drop shot – so brave from Murray there after a very long rally!
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First set: Murray 6-5 Tomic* (*denotes next server) An ace for Murray, who needs to keep on top of things now. A dismissive volley for 30-0 makes things feel a bit better. It’s 40-0 soon enough and Murray then sends Tomic the wrong way with a forehand for the kind of hold he really needed.
First set: Murray* 5-5 Tomic (*denotes next server) First blood to Tomic with a forehand winner, and the mood to this feels very different for now, a sense confirmed by a missed Murray forehand. 30-0. Murray gets a foothold when Tomic jams an awkward backhand wide but then nets the kind of forehand he was making with ease earlier. Tomic wins the game when a Murray forehand return clips the net a sails out.
First set: Murray 5-4 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Tomic can’t get a lovely backhand from Murray back over at the net, and that’s the start he wanted as he looks to close the set out. A wayward backhand sets things slightly askew but then Murray serves hard and wide for 30-15. A Tomic backhand is then called long rather late ... and incorrectly, as the subsequent challenge discovers. On the replayed point, a deep forehand from Tomic brings up 30-30 and Murray’s first little bit of trouble on serve. Murray then hits one right off the frame, slightly oddly, and it’s a break point for Tomic! That’s saved thanks to a superb first serve, and more of the same brings him to set point. That’s saved too by an excellent backhand pass from Tomic, who will clearly be a threat as this match develops ... and then Murray double faults! Can Tomic capitalise now? He can, as Murray puts a backhand into the tramline, and we’re back on serve!
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First set: Murray* 5-3 Tomic (*denotes next server) Murray misses a backhand and then Tomic, who is definitely improving, clobbers away a forehand. A third drop shot then pays dividends for Murray – just – as Tomic gets onto it but goes wide via a helpful clip off the net. Tomic then puts down an ace that Murray challenges but then cancels ... no idea if that’s actually allowed. No matter – Tomic closes out his most convincing game yet.
First set: Murray 5-2 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray challenges what looked a peach of a winner from Tomic down the line on the backhand side, and the ball was indeed good. Tomic looks a little more encouraged during the next rally but he’s put in his place by a rapier-like backhand across court, and when he goes long on the next one it’s 30-15. Tomic is falling into the trap of rushing things at times, which he does on the next point as he spoons a hard shot wide when it might have been wiser to prolong the rally. Into the net he goes after that, and Murray is close to the set now.
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First set: Murray* 4-2 Tomic (*denotes next server) Tomic is being made to work so hard for every point but he noses in front with an overhead here. Murray then attacks the second serve superbly to grant himself a regulation drive volley at the net. It’s 30-15 after Murray fails to salvage a lost cause for once, and then the Briton nets for 40-15 in perhaps Tomic’s only gift of a point to date. He aces it out, nice and wide, and keeps himself well in the set.
First set: Murray 4-1 Tomic* (*denotes next server) It would definitely be to Murray’s advantage to get this done quickly, even if some of his rather tired body language might have been shown up by that last point as being intended to disarm. He does just enough here to go 30-15 up, the drop shot working again after a rally that had been at pretty much level pegging. Tomic then nets with his forehand, having looked as if he was in control of the point two shots ago. An outstanding backhand winner off the Murray first serve, his best work of the set, brings him back to 40-30 but Murray replies with a serve that he can only return into the net. Murray confirms the break!
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First set: Murray* 3-1 Tomic (*denotes next server) Murray doesn’t look like taking any prisoners here and he forces Tomic to attempt an improbable cross-court backhand which goes wide for 0-30. Before we know it, Tomic missed again and it’s 0-40, three break points. The first two are well saved, and third is won after an absolutely astonishing piece of play from Murray! He seemed to have lost that point once, twice, three times but kept getting that ball back and eventually, through sheer athleticism and persistence, forced the error! Knackered? Who cares?
From Simon McMahon: “It’s not often you get to see Andy and Jamie Murray play together, in Scotland, in a Davis Cup semi-final (with Aussie legend Leyton Hewitt on the other side of the net), so feel privileged to have been at that incredible doubles rubber yesterday. The atmosphere was electric. I’m having to content myself today with the telly box and GBG. The crowd will definitely have a role to play today, especially if Andy finds himself a break or a set down. Let’s go Andy!!!”
First set: Murray 2-1 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray wins the first point but the second is replayed after a Tomic backhand is found to have clipped the line. Murray wasn’t best pleased at the time taken to appeal but he outfoxes Tomic with a drop shot for 30-0 anyway. Tomic then goes way out into the right tramline, and then Murray takes the game to love with a tremendous, seemingly effortless backhand off his feet.
First set: Murray* 1-1 Tomic (*denotes next server) Strong couple of points from Tomic, attacking on the first serve for 15-0 and then hitting an unreturnable one. Soon enough it’s 40-15, and we’re yet to really see a rally here. Murray finds his stride with a nice, measured early backhand down the line, it’s a clean winner and then he whips away a forehand in a similar area for deuce. The dawn is false; Tomic holds with a smash at the net and then a nice forehand winner of his own.
First set: Murray 1-0 Tomic* (*denotes next server) Murray gets us going unfussily, two aces helping him to 40-0. Tomic comes back with a strong forehand that Murray can’t return on a court that, as predicted, looks very slow indeed. But then he goes long and that’s a regulation hold. Murray is definitely conserving his energy here where he can – haven’t seen him break into a jog yet.
Are you sitting comfortably? We will very shortly begin. Murray serves first...
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Just a shame about those lads in Union Jack suits and ties. They’re having it large.
They’re knocking up now, by the way, but I can’t imagine either has ever knocked up to scenes like this.
“Take the high road” is belting out of the speakers in Glasgow, the crowd swaying to and fro, it’s a pretty awesome spectacle.
Tomic enters the fray to polite applause, and a bit more from the pocket of yellow-clad Aussies bunched up towards the middle of the court. And now Murray, accompanied by captain Leon Smith, emerges to a reception that can only be described as “rapturous”.
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Sue Barker is currently speaking in the middle of a darkened court lit only by the crowd’s mobile phones.
Remember to get in touch with your thoughts. Can we expect a quick job from Murray this afternoon or will Tomic, who hasn’t taken a set off him before, bring this to the wire?
Singles and doubles included today will be Andy Murray's 82nd match of 2015.
— Nick Lester (@nicklester) September 20, 2015
And that’s quite something too. The guy has had an absolutely monumental year’s work – how much more can possibly be in the tank?
#FactoftheDay: @andy_murray has a @DavisCup singles record of 24-2 & has never lost a singles match on a hard court! pic.twitter.com/a1BonHc2Gy
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) September 20, 2015
It bodes well, no?
Incidentally, there is another semi-final taking place this weekend too. It’s in Brussels, where Argentina lead Belgium 2-1. The final we’re currently on for would be a mouthwatering prospect...
In that 1978 Davis Cup, Great Britain reached the final by defeating Australia 3-2 – for whose who like an omen – in the wonderfully-named Inter-Zonal Zone. They then got thrashed 4-1 in a tennis match of tennis against the USA.
Tomic is an excellent player but his best hope here might just be that Murray has played on both days so far, with yesterday’s match going to the wire even if he beat Kokkinakis with ease on Friday. Then again, we had a similar situation in the last round against France, where Murray looked thoroughly knackered at times but still came up with the goods in style.
Missed out on yesterday’s drama? Catch up on Kevin Mitchell’s experience of the Murrays’ doubles delight here.
For Andy and Jamie Murray, who have put Great Britain in sight of a Davis Cup final for the first time in 37 years, winning a tennis match has never been as important as the love and comfort of a family which has fractured and moved on since they grew up 30 miles from here in Dunblane.
Andy, younger by a year but more decorated and feted – often to the consternation of their mother, Judy – made the point shortly after they had beaten Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 in just under four hours in front of 8,000 of their compatriots for a 2-1 lead in the semi-final.
Bernard Tomic loves lobster, pizza and sweets, according to his official website. Can’t wait for the next Aussie Celebrity Come Dine With Me.
Preamble
Here we are, then. History beckons! You probably know the deal by now but in case not: a win for Andy Murray against Bernard Tomic in ... oooh ... the next two or three hours, say, will land Great Britain their first Davis Cup final place in 37 (thirty-seven) years – not bad for those of us who are far more accustomed to hearing occasional dispatches from the Europe/Africa Zone’s more obscure reaches.
After yesterday’s dramatic doubles win, Great Britain have two bites of the cherry here. The first feels like a bit of a shoot-out for the honours, though, because with the best will in the world you’d back Thanasi Kokkinakis to beat Dan Evans afterwards, even though Evans did well in four sets against Tomic.
So what to expect here? Tomic is ranked 23 on the tour and Murray has beaten him in their only two previous meetings, Tomic taking just nine games in those matches. What does it all mean? Probably not that much, as funny things can happen when the pressure builds up like this – but you’d back Murray, in front of a fervent home crowd, to do the business here. And what a celebration there’ll be if he does! Stay close, and let us know your thoughts too. We begin at around 1pm.
