Andy Murray beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets to put Great Britain on level terms in their Davis Cup quarter-final with France, yesterday.
Murray had lost only once in his last 10 meetings with Tsonga, including four matches on grass, and the British number one extended his impressive record over the French powerhouse with a 7-5 7-6 6-2 victory.
The win means the best-of-five tie is firmly in the balance at the end of the first day at Queen’s after Britain’s James Ward earlier lost 6-4 6-4 6-1 to Gilles Simon.
Murray’s opening singles rubber was far from straight-forward, particularly during a mammoth second-set tie-break, but coming through in straight sets may well persuade the world no.3 to sacrifice his day’s rest and play in the doubles today.
Dominic Inglot is scheduled to partner Andy’s brother Jamie but the pairing can be changed up to an hour before the start of play and the middle rubber appears increasingly decisive to Britain’s chances of success.
“I always want to play,” Murray said on court afterwards.
“It’s about doing what’s best for us to win the tie. I need to be fresh for Sunday (tomorrow) as well so we’ll chat about it and see.
“Hopefully, I can play.”
Murray admitted in the build-up to the match that he was still stewing over his Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Roger Federer but the Scot showed few signs of fatigue as he whipped up the crowd and put Tsonga to the sword with a clinical display.
The 28-year-old appeared just as motivated by the raucous French fans, whom he hushed at one point in the second set, as he was by the home support, which included Heather Watson, as well as a devoted group dressed in full Union Jack suits.
Elsewhere, Kazakhstan were on the verge of reaching the semi-finals for the first time after grabbing a surprise 2-0 lead over Australia.
Mikhail Kukushkin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov both upset their Australian opponents on the temporary grasscourts in Darwin, completing a miserable 24 hours for the former champions.
Kazakhstan number one Kuku-shkin quickly disposed of Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4 6-3 6-3 before Nedovyesov upset Nick Kyrgios 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-4.
Quarter-finals
Britain vs France 1-1; Kazakhstan lead Australia 2-0; Argentina lead Serbia 2-0; Belgium lead Canada 2-0.