Brilliant Murray Wins Davis Cup For Britain

Great Britain have won the Davis Cup for the first time in 79 years, after Andy Murray beat Belgium’s David Goffin in straight sets.

The Brits led the tie in Ghent by two matches to one, after Andy and his brother Jamie won Saturday’s doubles rubber.

Andy Murray in action
(Picture from iusbpreface.com)

That meant Belgium had to win both singles matches on the final day tie at the Flanders Expo Arena, however Goffin was unable to cause an upset and went down 6-3 7-5 6-3 to an inspired Murray in a gruelling 2 hours and 54 minutes.

Murray will no doubt claim the headlines and a Davis Cup triumph will help polish an abundant career which has seen him win two Grand Slam title and an Olympic gold medal.  

    

He hasn’t lost a match in the team completion this year and has been involved in 8 out of the 9 rubbers which Britain have claimed in 2015.

However it shouldn’t be forgotten that Britain were in the third tier of the competition when captain Leon Smith took charge of the team five years ago, and he along with many others have played a huge part in hurling the team back to the World Group.

James Ward’s victory over John Isner at the start of the year was key to beating the United States; Dan Evans won the deciding fifth rubbers against both Russia and Slovakia in group 1, while doubles players like Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming have also played a huge role among many others.

Even so there is no doubt that Murray’s commitment to the team this year has been the decisive factor, his dedicated performances have allowed Britain to conquer the other three Grand Slam nations in the USA, France and Australia on their way to the title.

He went into the crucial match against Goffin as the overwhelming favourite, despite the Belgian’s ranking of 16 in the world.

Goffin had to come back from two sets down on the opening day to beat Britain’s Kyle Edmund in a match he simply had to win, against Murray he played with more freedom and caused some early problems for the British number one in front of a packed crowd.

However it was Murray who made the first break though after saving a break point in the third game of the match.

He punished Goffin’s second serve whenever the opportunity arose and went on to take the first set by six games to three.

Goffin, who had also played the doubles on Saturday, didn’t go away and played his part in some exhausting rallies, the Belgian continuously tried to take the ball on the rise and forced Murray to play some of his best tennis.

The Brit made his move at 5-5 in second set breaking the Goffin serve before serving his way to a two set lead.

Murray served consistently throughout but lost his serve for the first time at the start of the third. That wasn’t enough to keep him down and Murray came back to break Goffin three times in the final set.

He sealed the win with a spectacular backhand lob, as Britain won their first Davis Cup since 1936.