No Juan Martin Del Potro. No problem.
That was the unexpected story for Argentina on the final day of its Davis Cup semifinal showdown against Great Britain. Leonardo Mayer replaced Del Potro and won the decisive fifth rubber, defeating Daniel Evans 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Thus the Argentines are through to the Davis Cup final for the first time since 2011.
Del Potro was shelved from Sunday’s singles after a curious decision by the visiting side to play him in doubles match less than 24 hours after he stunned Andy Murray 6-4, 5-7, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 in the tie’s opening contest. That epic battle lasted five hours and seven minutes, and the former world No. 4 also spent two hours and 55 minutes on the court during Saturday’s 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss with Mayer to the Murray brothers.
Running on fumes, himself, Murray stumbled through Sunday’s first singles match. Although he looked far less than 100 percent physically, the second-ranked Scot had enough in the tank to take care of Guido Pella 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
That seemed to set the stage for Great Britain to complete an improbable comeback from 2-0 down and leave Argentinian captain Daniel Orsanic scrambling to justify his lineup decisions. An in-form Evans took the court for the home team against a slumping Mayer, who has plummeted to No. 114 in the rankings mostly because of injury and had not played an ATP-level event since mid-July.
Instead, Murray’s win in the fourth rubber paved the way for Mayer to become an unlikely hero.
The 29-year-old recovered from a slow start to overpower Evans in two hours and 44 minutes. Mayer blasted 31 winners to his opponent’s 20 and finished with 15 aces. After donating his second service game of the match, Mayer never again got broken.
“Leo’s match was something we believed could happen, but I think it was a great effort from his part,” Orsanic said. “He came out with his best tennis, with the tennis we used to see, with the tennis that made him win a lot of Davis Cup matches and that’s why we believed in him for the last match, especially on [a slow indoor hard court].
“It’s a very special moment for the whole team. It was a great victory to beat Great Britain here in Glasgow. It means a lot.”
The host nation took care of business on the other side of the bracket, as Crotia finished off France 3-1 after Marin Cilic beat Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday in Zadar, Croatia. Cilic fired 14 aces to Gasquet’s two while striking eight more winners and 15 fewer unforced errors.
Now 5-0 in his last five Davis Cup rubbers since squandering a two-set advantage over American Jack Sock in the quarters, Cilic won three matches this weekend. The world No. 11 rolled over Lucas Pouille and Friday and emerged victorious in a huge four-set doubles rubber on Saturday with Ivan Dodig against Indian Wells, Miami, and Wimbledon champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
“We are still pinching ourselves; that’s how excited we are with the result,” captain Zelko Krajan assured. “Our passionate fans made all the difference and that’s why we chose to play in Zadar. So did Cilic, who emerged as the leader of this generation and he catapulted us to victory against the French. We are very difficult to beat when we are at full strength.”
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The Guardian, Sept. 18, 2016:
¤¤ Orsanic (the captain) said, “Originally we thought that he [Delpo] would play the fifth rubber if possible but, after Friday’s match, we couldn’t think of that. That’s why we made him play the doubles to see if his quality could help Argentina to close the tie. But that was something we couldn’t say to the press. So there were a few cards that we had to keep for ourselves just to keep Great Britain thinking of what we would do.” ¤¤
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/18/dan-evans-great-britain-argentina-davis-cup-gamble-del-potro