CANADIAN’S SERVE IS A DANGER, SAYS WARD

Andy MurrAy’s davis Cup team-mate James Ward has backed the British no 1 to overcome Vasek Pospisil, who knocked Ward out of the third round.

But he warned that Murray will need to be wary of the Canadian’s serve — the shot which settled Ward’s fate in the deciding set of their marathon on saturday afternoon.

‘He has got that big serve, it’s very accurate and he hits big from the baseline and doesn’t give you a lot of rhythm,’ said Ward. ‘He mixes up the serve well and the one he hits straight down the “T” works very well. He has also got a good one that goes flat to the advantage court.

‘It should be an interesting match because he will be trying to keep the rallies short and I imagine that Andy will be happy if they are quite long. I do think Andy is well-equipped to play him because his returns are so good, so I’d make him the favourite to go through.

‘I’d be happy to talk to him about it but I think Andy has played him enough times already this year that he will know what to expect.’

yesterday Ward was named in a four-man British squad to take on France in next week’s davis Cup quarter-final at Queen’s Club.

Captain Leon smith will field him as the second singles player, with Murray at no 1 and a possible specialist doubles option of Jamie Murray and dom Inglot, although it must be likely that the two Murrays will play the pivotal doubles.

French captain Arnaud Clement named five players to be cut down to four before the draw a week tomorrow.

They are Wimbledon quarter-finalists Gilles simon and richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost in the third round. nicolas Mahut and the lesser known PierreHugues Herbert are contenders for the doubles slot, which may well decide the whole tie.

Queen’s has expanded its capacity to 7,200 for the match.