As satisfying, and surprising, as it was for Dominic Inglot to combine with his new Romanian doubles partner Florin Mergea to put the fabled Bryan brothers out of the Australian Open in straight sets, the Londoner would love another crack at the Americans for Great Britain in the Davis Cup in Glasgow in March.
However, he suspects the team captain, Leon Smith, will lean towards Jamie Murray to partner his brother, Andy. Still, on Monday, Inglot had his day in the sun – or clouds, as it happened.
Of the tremors that have rumbled through the tournament, the belly-bumping twins from California losing in the third round at least nudged the Richter scale. It is not that Mike and Bob – who have more than 900 career wins and 100 titles, including 16 slams – do not lose but, so brilliant are they at this most artful of tennis disciplines that Inglot and Mergea could hardly stop grinning after their 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win in only 68 minutes at the Hisense Arena.
“As a player you don’t want to say this,” Inglot said, “but I’m going to say it because I don’t really care: I think they’re the one doubles team that nobody wants to meet in the draw. You respect everybody, and everyone on their day can play at a high level, but you look at the draw and, if you’re not playing them, it’s like: ‘Whoa, what a relief.’ They don’t give you anything.”
This was the Bryan brothers’ 400th week at No1 in the world but the relatively new partnership of Inglot and Mergea gave them just one break point and converted two of the seven that came their way in a disciplined performance.
They next play the Dutchman Jean-Julian Rojer, who sometimes trains with Andy Murray in Miami, and Mergea’s fellow Romanian Horia Tecau, a three-times Wimbledon finalist with Robert Lindstedt. Tecau and Mergea have known each other since they were six and have played together many times.
The Bryan Brothers are permanently inked in for the Americans in Davis Cup but perhaps they are more vulnerable now than for a while.
Inglot is not sure if he will get the call to make up a team from an accomplished collection of doubles specialists. “I think Jamie Murray would be in a good position,” he said. “He’s going really well and he’s got a great record against the Bryans and Andy is obviously the strongest doubles player. You always want Andy in the team, if you can. You want to have a team that feels good together.
“Either way, if Leon calls me up and says: ‘We want you to come in,’ brilliant. I love representing Britain. It’s a great privilege. If not, you’ve got Jamie, you’ve got Colin [Fleming], they played great against Italy. Jonny Marray just won a tournament in Chennai, so he’s also in good form. I wish I could tell you who’s going to be in it but I really don’t know. Leon likes to keep his cards close to his chest and leave it to the last minute. I’m focusing on this tournament but if he wants to chat, that’s great.”
Inglot parted company with Treat Huey, with whom he had much success over four years, last October because he prefers repetitious drills to the Filipino’s variety-based game. Inglot has already reached two semi-finals in seven tournaments with Mergea, whom he met two years ago. They joined forces after the US Open.
“This guy’s got the x-factor,” Inglot said of Mergea. “He’s always been someone I could actually talk with, and that’s one thing I missed with all my previous partners.”
