Murrays keep Britain alive in Davis Cup semi vs Argentina

Tennis

Andy and Jamie Murray kept Britain alive in its Davis Cup semifinal against Argentina, winning the doubles match in four sets to reduce the titleholder's deficit to 2-1 yesterday.

The Murray brothers beat Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in front of a rowdy crowd in Glasgow.

The semifinal moves to the reverse singles today, when Andy Murray is set to play Guido Pella and Del Potro is down to play Kyle Edmund.

Del Potro and Murray were back on court after an epic 5hour, 7-minute opening singles match Friday, won by Del Potro in five sets. Del Potro wasn't slated to play in the doubles and was a surprise late change by Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic, especially given the player's injury problems in rec

Croatia leads France 2-1

Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig put Croatia 2-1 ahead in the Davis Cup semifinal against France by upsetting topranked doubles pair Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6 (6), 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-3 yesterday.

Richard Gasquet now must beat Cilic in the first of today’s reverse singles to keep France alive. Gasquet leads the 2014 US Open champion 2-1 in their career head-to-heads.

Pouille is then scheduled to face Borna Coric in what could be today’s deciding rubber. The winner plays Britain or Argentina in the final.

Germany leads Poland 2-1

Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski recovered to beat Germany’s Daniel Brand and Daniel Masur 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-3, 64, 6-2 and keep alive Poland's hopes in their Davis Cup World Group playoff yesterday.

With today's reverse singles to come, Germany leads 2-1, and its higher-ranked singles players are favuored to seal victory.

The winner of the tie will stay in the 16-team World Group in 2017.

Japan beats Ukraine 3-0 to seal World Group spot

Kei Nishikori and Yuichi Sugita beat Artem Smirnov and Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 as Japan won its playoff 3-0 against Ukraine yesterday.

The Japanese duo was in control from the outset and converted nine of 15 break point opportunities.

With the win, Japan secured its place in the World Group in 2017.

Ukraine was bidding for its first appearance in the World Group but will remain in the Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 next year.

Australia wins World Group playoff over Slovakia

Doubles pair Sam Groth and John Peers beat Slovakia’s Andrej Martin and Igor Zelenay 64, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2) yesterday to clinch Australia’s Davis Cup World Group playoff 3-0.

The win with new captain Lleyton Hewitt in charge ensured Australia, a first-round loser to the United States in February, will remain in the elite group of 16 countries for 2017.

Spain back in World Group

Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez led Spain back into Davis Cup World Group after defeating the India pair of Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 64 in the doubles yesterday.

The Spanish pair, the Olympic champions, were a set and 5-4 down in the second set when they staged a fightback and gave Spain an unassailable 3-0 lead in the playoff.