A fired up Andy Murray showed his class to draw Britain level with Belgium on day one of the Davis Cup Final after David Goffin’s escape act from a two-set deficit had given the hosts the lead in Ghent on Friday.
The 28-year-old world No.2 Murray, who has almost single-handedly put Britain on the brink of their first title since 1936, duly delivered another point, beating 108th-ranked Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 on the indoor clay court.
Murray’s hunger to capture the team trophy has been evident all year with inspirational displays against the US, France and Australia and he wore his heart on his sleeve again as he withstood a Bemelmans fightback to clinch victory.
Photo: AP
At 2-2 in the third set and the noise levels deafening inside the 13,000-seat arena built within a charmless warehouse on the edge of medieval Ghent, Murray was even docked a point for an audible obscenity.
He then slipped 4-2 behind and fought off a Bemelmans set point at 4-5 before clinching a straight-sets victory that enabled him a little more recovery time for yesterday’s doubles rubber with older brother Jamie. Belgium had announced Steve Darcis and Kimmer Coppejans to play, but all the signs were that captain Johan van Herck would ask Goffin to join Darcis.
“I had no idea about either of the warnings because you can’t hear anything on the court,” Murray said of the raucous atmosphere produced by a sellout crowd. “So I’m surprised [the umpire] could hear what I was saying.”
Photo: Reuters
Murray’s seventh singles win in the Davis Cup this year left the Final evenly poised, although Britain would already be virtually home and dry had debutant 20-year-old Kyle Edmund finished off world No. 16 Goffin.
The opening singles of the tie, which was regarded as a “must-win” rubber for Belgium as they try to land their first title, was turning into a humiliation for Goffin when he trailed the world No. 100 by two sets.
However, lifted by the chants of the home fans, the 24-year-old recovered from two sets down for the first time in his career to win 3-6, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-0.
The match began with a 12-minute game in which Goffin wasted two break points, shanking one forehand into the roof girders, then saw him completely overwhelmed for more than an hour by a free-swinging Edmund with a thunderbolt forehand.
When the Briton won the opening game of the third set he looked poised to become the first debutant to win a live rubber in the Davis Cup Final, but Goffin recovered his senses in the nick of time to put a tiring Edmund in his place.
“The pressure was more on my shoulders because we needed this point against Kyle,” Goffin said. “I was a little bit worried because Kyle was playing unbelievable. He just had nothing to lose.”
Van Herck said he had feared the worst as Edmund blazed away on the clay.
“I was very worried,” he said. “Didn’t expect to be there, but we knew if David could find his game, he could win three sets in a row. He had to get the tension off and he had to get his feet moving. Luckily for us he did.”
Defeat for Goffin would have left Belgium’s dreams in tatters and the pressure seemed to freeze the 24-year-old as his game disintegrated in the face of Edmund’s withering power.
Edmund was in complete control for more than an hour and took the second set in 25 minutes on a Goffin double fault.
A stunned Goffin finally got a foothold when he broke the Edmund serve to open a 3-1 lead in the third set and the momentum quickly swung his way.
With the spring back in his legs, that had seemed set in concrete earlier, and his shoulders released, Goffin began to feed off the energy of the crowd as Edmund wilted.
“The experience of David and also the environment at some point did take a toll,” British captain Leon Smith said. “He probably had to win it in straight sets or even in four.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB