U.S. Falls 3-2 to Great Britain in Davis Cup Playoff

The United States entered this past weekend’s Davis Cup action needing to sweep all three of the remaining matches to move past Great Britain and into the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, the Americans were only able to conjure up two of the three victories they needed, falling to the Brits 3-2 in Glasgow, Scotland. Fifth-ranked Andy Murray clinched the win with a 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over 20th ranked John Isner in the first singles match on Sunday afternoon.

“This is a deserved win. The attitude of everyone was excellent,” said Murray. “Everyone fought extremely hard, especially when we were behind in the matches, no one gave up. Every person played extremely hard.”

Nobody symbolized that ‘never give up’ attitude more than James Ward on Friday afternoon. The 111th ranked player in the world came back from a two-set deficit against Isner, edging the American 15-13 in the fifth-set to give the British control of the best-of-series.

Ward’s win came after Murray cruised past Donald Young in four sets earlier on Friday. Up 2-0, Great Britain needed just one victory in the final three matches to push into the quarterfinals.

Bob and Mike Bryan kept the Americans alive with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(8), 9-7 win in the lone doubles match on Saturday, adding some meaning to the two reverse singles matches on the weekend’s final afternoon.

Isner took on Murray in hopes of evening the best-of-five matchup at 2-2, but was edged in two tiebreakers as the Scot won 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(4) to clinch it for Great Britain.

“This one is on me,” said a dejected Isner. “My teammates may say otherwise, but if you look at that matchup on paper, I lost on Friday and put us in a huge hole. It is disappointing for me. There are not many people that could beat Andy and I certainly tried my best and was close. But on Friday, my match hurt us a lot.”

Young would go on to win the fifth and final match after Ward retired leading 7-5, 0-1.

It is the second consecutive year that the Brits have defeated the Americans in the Davis Cup.

USA Captain Jim Courier was quick to deflect blame off of Isner, who was very hard on himself after his Friday defeat.

“We win and lose as a team,” said Courier. “John came out and gave everything he had. He came up a little short in two matches. Today’s match was not as long, but it was close. He played the tennis he needs to always play today.”

The United States will next play in September’s World Group Playoff against an opponent that has yet to be determined. The draw for that will come out in July following the World Group quarterfinals.

Great Britain moves into those quarterfinals and will host France on July 17-19.

Below are the results of the rest of the Davis Cup action over the weekend:

France 3, Germany 2
►Gilles Simon (FRA) d. Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-7(1), 6-2, 10-8
​►Gael Monfils (FRA) d. Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(4)
​►Julien Benneteau/Nicolas Mahut (FRA) d. Benjamin Becker/Andre Begemann   6-3, 6-3, 6-2
​►Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) d. Gilles Simon (FRA)     7-6(5), 6-4
​►Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) d. Nicolas Mahut (FRA)      7-6(6), 6-3

Australia 3, Czech Republic 2
​►Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d. Lukas Rosol (CZE) 4-6, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3
​►Bernard Tomic (AUS) d. Jiri Vesely (CZE) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5)
​►Adam Pavlasek/Jiri Vesely (CZE) d. Sam Groth/Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 1-6, 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2
​►Bernard Tomic (AUS) d. Lukas Rosol (CZE) 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(5)
​►Jan Mertl (CZE) d. Sam Groth 6-3, 6-2

Kazakhstan 3, Italy 2
​►Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) d. Simone Bolelli (ITA) 7-6(6), 6-1, 6-2
​►Andrea Seppi (ITA) d. Andrey Golubev (KAZ) 6-3, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2
​►Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini (ITA) d. Andrey Golubev/Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-7(13), 6-4
​►Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) d. Andrea Seppi (ITA) 7-6(8), 6-0, 6-4
​►Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) d. Fabio Fognini (ITA) 7-6(5), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5

Serbia 5, Croatia 0
►Novak Djokovic (SRB) d. Mate Delic (CRO) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
​►Viktor Troicki (SRB) d. Borna Coric (CRO) 4-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1
​►Novak Djokovic/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) d. Marin Draganja/Franko Skugor (CRO) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1
​►Filip Krajinovic (SRB) d. Franko Skugor (CRO) 6-4, 6-2
​►Viktor Troicki (SRB) d. Mate Delic (CRO) 6-4, 6-3

Canada 3, Japan 2
​►Milos Raonic (CAN) d. Tatsuma Ito (JPN) 6-2, 6-1, 6-2
​►Kei Nishikori (JPN) d. Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3
​►Daniel Nestor/Vasek Pospisil (CAN) d. Go Soeda/Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
​►Kei Nishikori (JPN) d. Milos Raonic (CAN) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
►Vasek Pospisil (CAN) d. Go Soeda (JPN) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4

Belgium 3, Switzerland 2
​►Henri Laaksonen (SUI) d. Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) 1-6, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-0, 6-2
​►Steve Darcis (BEL) d. Michael Lammer (SUI) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3
​►Ruben Bemelmans/Niels Desein (BEL) d. Adrien Bossel/Michael Lammer (SUI) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
​►Henri Laaksonen (SUI) d. Steve Darcis (BEL) 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1
​►David Goffin (BEL) d. Adrien Bossel (SUI) 6-4, 6-0, 6-4

Argentina 3, Brazil 2
​►Joao Souza (BRA) d. Carlos Berlocq (ARG) 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
​►Leonardo Mayer (ARG) d. Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
​►Marcelo Malo/Bruno Soares (BRA) d. Carlos Berlocq/Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
​►Leonardo Mayer (ARG) d. Joao Souza (BRA) 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 5-7, 5-7, 15-13
​►Federico Delbonis (ARG) d. Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5