After acting as the unofficial Great Britain cheerleaderyesterday, as he willed his older brother Jamie and Dom Inglot on to betterthings in the doubles rubber, it was back to the more familiar day job for AndyMurray today, as he completed the task of leading his team through to thequarter-finals of the Davis Cup. A straight-sets win over John Isner was justwhat the Glasgow crowd demanded and the world number five seed duly deliveredwith a 7-6 6-3 7-6 triumph, ensuring that Britain established a 3-1 lead andalso that James Ward's match with Donald Young would become a dead rubber.
It was never as plain sailing as the basic facts wouldsuggest, as nothing ever seems to be against a giant of a man with a hammerserve to boot. The Scot did what he could with the few opportunities presentedto him on his opponent's serve, but in truth had to save three set points onhis own delivery before claiming the first set on the tie-break, aided by thebig American's double fault early on in it.
With chants of "Let's go, Andy, let's go" ringing aroundthe Emirates Arena, Murray finally broke the American's serve in the second setthanks to a delicious lob over his 6'10" rival. He was able to close the setout, as Isner began to increase the number of unforced errors in his game, roaredon by the mainly partisan 7,700 capacity crowd.
Murray seemed to have the edge now, not just on thescoreboard but also in terms of general momentum. Yet, Isner's serve is nothingbut reliable and consistent, even under pressure and he kept his interest goingthroughout the third set. As the spectators began to accept the almostinevitable tie-break that was looming, Murray had to survive a slight scarewhen 0-30 on his own serve, trailing 4-5. He came through that test withhonours and the third set tie-break was confirmed. Murray grabbed an earlymini-break to get his nose in front, clinching the victory with a subtly slicedace out wide to spark jubilation in the arena for the British fans.
Britain and Scotland's hero acclaimed the entire teameffort for the success afterwards: "It feels great.
This is a team effort and Ithink everyone agrees (that) the team played their part."
Next up in the quarter-finals will be France in July athome, with the venue as of yet unconfirmed. With the date just a week afterWimbledon, Murray suggested that maybe they'd look to play it on grass, beforesomewhat cheekily adding that he'd love to be able to play the tie in Glasgowagain.