By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, March 7, 2015
Mike and Bob Bryan held off Dominic Inglot and Jamie Murray, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 9-7 to give Team USA life and cut Great Britain's lead to 2-1 in the Davis Cup first-round tie.
Photo credit: @DavisCup
Streaking from sideline to sideline with all the urgency of a parent chasing after his wayward toddler in a park, Mike Bryan hurled his body at the ball in vain.
Unable to halt himself, Bryan hurdled the side-court signage, knocking it out of place, finally slowing his pace near the front row. He high-fived a kid in the crowd before chugging right back to court to continue a doubles thriller deadlocked at 5-all in the fifth set.
The Glasgow crowd showed a wry sense of humor with a spontaneous chant: "You broke our signage! You broke our signage!"
That sequence typified the spirit and energy of an entertaining five-set duel between Great Brian's Dominic Inglot and Jamie Murray and the Bryan twins.
Digging out of a two-set hole, the British side built a barricade of momentum
The Bryan brothers were willing to run through walls to knock it down.
Davis Cup: Ward Rallies To Edge Isner In Epic
A U.S. team that was left for dead after Andy Murray and James Ward staked the host to a 2-0 lead yesterday, got a pulse of life courtesy of their 36-year-old energizers.
The Bryan brothers fought off Inglot and Jamie Murray, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 9-7, in a pulsating three hour, 39-minute test to put the Americans on the scoreboard heading into Sunday's reverse singles.
It remains a dire deficit for the USA.
Great Britain has never lost a Davis Cup tie after leading 2-0, while the United States is 1-39 after facing an 0-2 deficit. But after a devastating day one, U.S. captain Jim Courier was grateful the twins threw a lifeline to the team.
"If we didn't win that one there was no need for momentum, but we have some going into tomorrow," Courier told DavisCup.com. "We needed obviously a breath of life from Bob and Mike; they always come through for us.
"Credit to the Brits, they made it a hell of a contest. But Bob and Mike rose to the occasion at the end and we'll have to rise to the occasion all day tomorrow to punch through and get a victory."
The Bryan brothers had publicly lobbied for a sibling showdown against the Murray brothers on the Scots' home turf, about 30 miles from their hometown of Dunblane.
When Ward fought back from a two-set hole to outduel John Isner and stake the host to a 2-0 lead, British captain Leon Smith played the logical hand. Smith rested his best player for Sunday's reverse singles against the American giant who may still be drained and haunted by his passive play in blowing a two-set lead to the 111th-ranked Ward in the longest U.S. Davis Cup match in the tie break era.
From a tactical perspective, you can understand why the twins were apprehensive about Inglot. Though he's a relative novice in Davis Cup terms, the 29-year-old Inglot's booming serve can bruise the back walls and he's burned the Bryans twice this year. Inglot and Romanian partner Florian Mergea beat the twins at the Australian Open and in Dubai.
Murray has soft hands and fine feel around net, but his second serve was the most vulnerable shot on the court today as the Bryans broke the lefty four times during the first two sets. Their fourth break resulted in a 5-2 second-set lead. Mike Bryan served it out in the next game, staking the twins to a two-set lead after only 57 minutes of play.
Undaunted, Murray and Inglot began to find a rhythm in their first match together. Murray buried a volley into Bob Bryan's ribcage as the Brits broke for a 3-1 third-set lead. Inglot plastered an ace — one of 17 for the host compared to 3 for the visitors — to extend the lead to 4-1 as GB raced through the third set.
The Americans had converted all four of their break chances when they earned a fifth against Murray in the fourth game of the fourth set.
Murray stuck a backhand volley deep in the corner and followed it up with a finishing forehand volley to deny it. Two games later, Inglot withstood a pair of break points, holding for 3-3.
Playing just his second Davis Cup match, Inglot was initially a step slow pinching the middle throughout the first two sets and the Bryans made him pay slashing volleys down the center.
As the match progressed, the British side adjusted, mixing in some I-formation on Murray's serve to disrupt the returners. Inglot moved his feet faster and was more decisive on the high volley. The 6-foot-5 Londoner owns one of the biggest seconds serves in the doubles game, which liberates him to lash out massive first serves.
The twins defended their second serves more effectively — the Bryans won 70 percent of their second serve points compared to 42 percent for the Inglot and Murray — and had a shot to close the match on Murray's serve.
Serving at 5-6, the Scot lost a nose-to-nose volley exchange with Mike Bryan, slapping a high forehand volley into net for 15-30. Catching Bob Bryan leaning the wrong way, Murray slid a serve winner wide for 40-30 and darted a serve into Mike Bryan's hip, nearing a tricky hold to force the tie break.
Attacking a Murray second serve, Mike Bryan stuck a return down the middle handcuffing the server for the mini-break and a 4-2 advantage. The Brits picked up their movement and energy level winning four of the next five points to gain set point when Bob buried a forehand into the net.
The Bryans saved two set points then won both of Murray's service points for their first match point.
Inglot is a streaky returner, but he isn't afraid of taking big cuts off his forehand return regardless of the score. Snaking a low return that a diving Bob could not control, Inglot saved the match point. Misjudging an off-paced angled return from Murray, Bob Bryan didn't play the volley. That decision was costly. Hawk-Eye showed the ball caught the edge of the sideline giving Great Britain a third set point and the Glasgow crowd reason to roar.
Unloading a heavy serve, Inglot set his partner up for an easy knock-off volley to even the match and prompt an eruption from the crowd.
Times like these — international team competition with a frenzied crowd on the road — make you wonder where American tennis would be without two families: the Williams sisters and Bryan brothers.
Seeing their two-set lead dissipate and the crowd eager to impose itself into the outcome, the twins closed ranks and turned up the return pressure on second serves.
At 7-all, a nervous netted volley gave the Americans the first break point of the decider. Murray, who showed tension on serve catching his toss a few times, answered with his best delivery of the day, sliding an ace off the sideline for deuce.
Defense earned the Americans a second break point as they lofted three lobs to extend the point, eventually drawing a volley error from Inglot. Mike Bryan angled a low forehand return, Murray ran through his forehand volley, depositing the shot into the middle of the net and the Bryans broke for the first time since the second set for an 8-7 lead.
Mike Bryan banged successive body serves to earn double match point after three hours, 39 minutes of fast hands and high drama. When Inglot pushed a volley beyond the baseline, the Bryan launched into their signature parting shot, the leaping chest bump, sustaining slim hopes for the stars and stripes. America's all-time winningest Davis Cup doubles team raised its record to 23-4 in Davis Cup doubles.
Now it's up to American No. 1 Isner, who is winless in three meetings with Andy Murray, to upset the 2013 Wimbledon champion on a slow hard court well-suited for the Scot's speed and variety.
Captain Courier is imploring Long John to play short points.
"The good news for John is if he plays the right way it will be quick points he'll be serving really well and taking his chances against Andy," Courier told DavisCup.com. "The kind of long points that he engaged in yesterday is not a strategy he can do against a player of Murray's capabilities. Murray is significantly better at the baseline than James Ward."