History has not always been kind to visitors in Rouen, from Joan of Arc to the Great Britain Davis Cup team, who trail 2-0 after the opening day of their quarter-final against France. Already ahead before a forehand was struck, buoyed by the best of all national anthems and accompanied by an excellent brass ensemble, the nine-times champions deserve their lead.
The world No17 Lucas Pouille played powerfully from the back and with well-judged guile at the net to outfox Kyle Edmund 7-5, 7-6, 6-3, before Jérémy Chardy’s all-round excellence on clay proved too much for the stubborn Dan Evans, who was playing his first match on the surface in three years. Chardy, 32 places adrift of Evans in the rankings at No68 but unbeaten in four appearances for his country, won 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
It is up to Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot to beat the Wimbledon finalists Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau on Saturday to keep the tie alive. It is asking a lot, but it is far from impossible, given Murray and Inglot’s history as a tough team to beat, although the chances of Evans and Edmund rescuing the cause in the reverse singles on Sunday are not a lot better than were Joan’s against the Duke of Burgundy five centuries ago.
The team captain, Leon Smith, said, “There’s always a way back. It would be wrong to say we’ve lost. That’s not the mentality we’ve built up over the years.”
As hard as Edmund and Evans fought, the losing start was a shame for British tennis – on a day when the Lawn Tennis Association rolled out a commendable plan to give 20,000 young children a free racket. Each, it should be noted. The outgoing chairman, Michael Downey, is leaving something to remember him by before he returns to Canada after Wimbledon.
For France, hopes of reaching the semi-finals for the fifth time in eight years remain high. There, they will play either Novak Djokovic’s Serbia or Spain, who are without Rafael Nadal in the other tie in that group in Belgrade.
Djokovic’s troublesome right elbow did not, apparently, inconvenience him and he took just under two hours to beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and Serbia lead 2-0, after Viktor Troicki’s 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Pablo Carreno Busta. As it happens, Andy Murray, who is nursing an elbow injury, was hitting on the clay at Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy in Nice, up the road from Djokovic’s home in Monte Carlo, where both return to the circuit next weekend.
Great Britain could have done with the world No 1 in Rouen, where a co-ordinated big-card protest in the designated France fanzone of the compact 5,000-seater Kindarena sent an unequivocal message to the International Tennis Federation: “No to the future format”. One of the reasons the younger Murray is not playing is to guard against aggravating his injury; the Tour is taking its toll across the board.
At least on court all concerned were in tune with the new resolve of the ITF to shorten matches and kept the contests to three sets – just not the best of three sets.
Edmund had a decent bank of history to draw on, having blazed for two stunning sets before succumbing to David Goffin in the final in Ghent two years ago when Great Britain won the cup for the first time since 1936.
That packed venue on an industrial estate on the edge of a beautiful city was twice the size of this one and the travelling supporters this time did not seem as engaged. There were a few empty seats so perhaps some of them had problems getting in – like Judy Murray’s father, who was asked to remove his belt by a zealous security operative, and then watched his trousers fall around his ankles.
If only British embarrassment could have been contained to the wardrobe.Edmund and Pouille traded breaks in a high-grade first set before the Frenchman forced a final stray backhand from the world No47 to go 1-0 up.
Edmund, 1-9 winning a five-setter after dropping the first set, could have done without a wickedly low bounce on the drop-in clay at the start of the second, which looked to rattle his self-belief. He broke back for 4-4 and was 5-2 up in the tie-break before his backhand let him down.
The third flew by almost as an afterthought and the job was done in two hours and 10 minutes when Edmund shoved a final, weary forehand into the tramlines.
