GB’s double trouble serves up cup exit

THE French celebrated like it was Bastille Day, but in truth it was no massive surprise when they clinched a 3-0 victory over Great Britain in their Davis Cup quarter final yesterday.

With Andy Murray not playing after his elbow problems it was always going to be a struggle. ‘We lack depth, that’s pretty obvious, but we are a darned sight better than we used to be,’ said GB captain Leon Smith.

If there was any frustration it was that Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot had enough chances to take this match into a deciding day, although given the defeats of Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans in the singles on Friday it would probably have been futile anyway.

The British pair were beaten 7-6, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 by the experienced French pairing of Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau. However, the away team were not that far off winning in straight sets.

The slight lack of composure on some big points meant that this ended up being Britain’s first two-day defeat since losing away to Argentina in 2008.

In the twelth game of a tight first set three set points were created against the weaker Benneteau serve, and on the third of them Inglot netted a mid-court backhand. In the ensuing tiebreak the away team led 4-1, were pulled back to 5-6 and then missed a fourth set point at 7-6 when Inglot sent a return long, before losing it 9-7.

A brilliant lob from the Chiswick powerhouse saw the British team break for 6-5 in the second, which allowed Murray to serve it out.

In the third it was the Britons who again got in front, breaking for 3-2 before Inglot netted a volley on break point against them at 4-3 with his team-mate serving. Jamie Murray was then broken for the second time at 5-6 when, facing a third break point, he double faulted.

The fourth set was tighter but followed a similar pattern with Murray broken at 5-6 on a second match point.

‘It was a good and exciting match, but we didn’t get it done when it mattered,’ admitted Murray.