Andy Murray battled previous Davis Cup debutant Leandro Riedi in a three-hour epic in Manchester to offer Great Britain a 1-0 lead over Switzerland.
The former world primary had solely misplaced three of his earlier 35 singles matches within the competitors and by no means to a participant ranked as little as world quantity 152 Riedi.
But the big-hitting 21-year-old produced a efficiency properly above that and, after failing to take his possibilities within the opening set, Murray wanted all his nous to grind out a 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-4 victory in three hours and 10 minutes.
It was one other demonstration that, for all his frustration at being unable to get again within the combine at grand slams, the aggressive fireplace nonetheless burns brightly inside Murray and to recover from the road in an necessary match for his nation undoubtedly meant lots.
The 36-year-old mentioned: “It’s obviously incredible to get through that one, it easily could have gone the other way. It was ridiculous the shots he was pulling off, amazing, amazing returning. I kept fighting and tried to stay focused and managed to turn it round.”
Having seen his gamble to play debutant Jack Draper and Dan Evans handsomely repay in Wednesday’s victory over Australia, captain Leon Smith made use of his choices by naming Murray and Cameron Norrie as his singles gamers right here.
Evans’ 0-5 document towards Stan Wawrinka might have performed an element in his considering alongside maybe with warning to not over-play Draper given his bodily fragility this 12 months.
Murray performed singles towards Kazakhstan on the similar stage final 12 months however solely as soon as Britain had been already eradicated, making this his first stay singles rubber within the competitors since 2019 and solely his second in seven years.
Switzerland additionally sprang a shock by choosing Riedi forward of their quantity two Dominic Stricker, and Murray admitted that had thrown him having ready to face a left-hander.
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After negotiating an 11-minute first sport, the Scot broke serve instantly and had an opportunity to open up a 4-0 lead.
He couldn’t take it, although, and Riedi labored his approach into the competition, starting to trigger Murray rising issues along with his massive forehand and aggressive techniques.
They earned him a break again when the Scot served for the set at 5-3, and Murray was then unable to take two set factors within the tie-break, Riedi changing his first alternative along with his twenty second winner.
The younger Swiss, who had by no means beforehand overwhelmed a top-50 participant, had his tail up and Murray kicked his bag in frustration after failing to interrupt within the third sport of the second set.
He lastly made the breakthrough at 3-3 when Riedi double-faulted just for the 21-year-old to go away his opponent rooted to the spot with a sequence of blistering returns.
Undeterred, Murray engineered one other break and this time held onto it with trademark grim willpower to stage the match.
The Scot has been in comparable conditions a whole lot of instances throughout his profession and in the end expertise gained out, though it was nonetheless nip and tuck, with Murray slamming his racket to the courtroom after handing an early break again within the decider.
He broke once more to steer 3-2, although, and quashed Riedi’s hopes of a comeback by taking his first match level with an ace.
