By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 8, 2015
Andy Murray defeated John Isner, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) to clinch Great Britain's second straight Davis Cup victory over the United States in Glasgow.
Photo credit: @BritishTennis
Barreling toward net, 6-foot-10 John Isner presented an immense obstacle. On this day, Andy Murray's imagination was even bigger than his opponent.
Digging out a running topspin lob, Murray froze the big man with finesse. A rumbling Isner tried to reverse course, but could only turn and watch in futility as the lob landed cleanly to give the Scot a 4-2 second-set advantage and the only service break of the match.
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Isner played attacking tennis, but Murray absorbed the American's biggest blows and played over his head on critical points.
Before a raucous Glasow crowd, Murray muted the United States for the second straight year. Murray fought off three set points in the 10th game, toppling Isner, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) clinching Great Britain's second consecutive Davis Cup conquest of the U.S. and sending the host into the Davis Cup quarterfinals against France.
"It was an incredible experience; obviously anyone watching on TV or in the arena would have felt that," Murray told DavisCup.com. "For the players it was incredible. Playing in front of the home crowd, [I felt] a bit more pressure. Everyone was thinking it would be comfortable because he was gonna be tired, but when you have a serve like that — and he was going for broke — it definitely put a lot of pressure on me. But I managed to fight through it."
Isner played the right way on the wrong day.
The first-strike tennis Long John produced today was precisely the way he needed to play against 111th-ranked Londoner James Ward on Friday. But after building a two-set lead, Isner inexplicably got a little passive, allowed Ward to drag him into some grinding rallies on the slow-paced hard-court and gave Glasgow fans a voice in the match.
The American No. 1 came out with a clear game plan today: Bomb his explosive serve and blister the first forehand he saw. Playing first-strike tennis, the big man outplayed the quicker Scot for much of the first set conserving his energy while diminishing Murray's major edge in court coverage.
"I thought maybe if I just went for my first serve percentage maybe I could get him running," Murray told DavisCup.com. "But he wasn't going for that. He was going for the first ball in every rally and serving huge."
In the opening set, Isner earned seven break points compared to none for Murray. The Scot withstood some heavy hitting in stubbornly denying three break points in the seventh game.
Isner plastered an inside-out forehand winner, clocked at 107 mph by the court-side radar, to earn a second break point. Murray slid a serve down the T to erase it. Isner rapped a forehand return winner down the line for break point number three. Murray was up to the test again, smacking a serve off the sideline and eventually holding for 4-all.
Pressure pinched Murray as he double-faulted to face double set point in the 10th game. A 16-shot rally ended with Isner sailing a forehand on the first set point. On the second, Isner stepped inside the baseline and crushed a forehand return off a tepid Murray second serve, but the blast smacked into the top of the tape and died and a little bit of the big man seemed to go with it. Isner dropped to his knees recoiling in pain at a pivotal point that slipped from his grip as the British fans erupted in a "Let's Go Andy!" chant.
Murray hit an ace wide to fight off a third set point, working through a demanding hold for 5-all. A rapid-fire next exchange ended with Murray netting a volley for 30-all in the 12th game. The Scot again navigated a tricky hold, hammering an ace out wide to force the first-set tie break.
At that point, Isner had banged 12 aces, but clanked his first double to donate the mini-break to open the breaker. That was all Murray needed to turn the set around. He bolted a backhand pass by a lunging Isner for 5-2. A serve winner out wide brought Murray to his first set point and when Isner netted a forehand return, Murray had the opener in 64 minutes.
Despite the fact he had outplayed his opponent for an hour, Isner had nothing to show for it.
In the sixth game of set two, Murray caught Isner by surprise.
A clever running backhand topspin lob from Murray froze the big man, who had to stop his forward momentum near net, spin and try to track down the ball. Isner could only watch in frustration as the shot sailed over his head landing cleanly to five the Scot a 4-2 second-set advantage.
When Isner buried a forehand return into the middle of the net, Murray had the 32-minute second set and complete control.
Credit Isner for fighting off triple break point to start the third set. Neither man was tested too much on serve again until the 10th game when Murray faced 0-30. A flurry of service winners helped him punch through the mini-crisis, leveling for 5-5.
If there is a common connection between many of the top-ranked American men, it's their struggle to defend the backhand at crunch time. For much of the match, Isner did a good job dancing around his backhand to fire his favored forehand. He cracked 23 forehand winners compared to four off his two-handed backhand, but Murray found his weakness when it mattered most.
Attacking Isner's backhand, Murray knocked off a high volley for the mini-break and a 3-1 lead in the tie break. An ace down the middle followed by a backhand error, Isner's 41st error of the match, gave Murray tie-clinching points. On his third match point, Murray sliced his 16th ace, pumping his fist in celebration after wrapping up a two hour, 31-minute victory.
Great Britain will host France in the July 17-19th quarterfinals. Playing about 30 miles from his hometown of Dunblane this weekend, Murray is looking forward to another homecoming against Les Bleus.
"If everyone plays to their abilities, we can have a chance to win matches, but we don't have a huge margin for error," Murray said of the quaterfinals. "Wardie played incredible tennis. If he can play like that it gives us a big opportunity. Home ties make a big difference."