Great Britain ousted from ATP Cup quarter-finals by Australia after agonising doubles defeat

Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur sealed a memorable ATP Cup win for Australia over Great Britain
Getty Images

Great Britain suffered an agonising quarter-final defeat to Australia in the inaugural ATP Cup as Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury failed to convert four match points in a 34-point champions tiebreak.

Nick Kyrgios had got the hosts off to the perfect start with an easy win over Cameron Norrie for the loss of just four games, before Dan Evans stunned top-20 player Alex de Minaur 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in a near three-and-a-half hour contest.

It meant the tie rested on the doubles with Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt opting at the last minute to replace established pair Chris Guccione and John Peers with Kyrgios and De Minaur.

Murray and Salisbury took the first set 6-3 only for the Australians to force the tiebreak with a similar scoreline in the second set. The British duo then went down 7-4 in the decider but struck back to set up four match points.

Agonising defeat: Jamie Murray (pictured) and Joe Salisbury couldn't get over the line in Sydney
REUTERS

Murray let the easiest of chances go begging for the win at 11-10 after the ball popped off the net and left him with a comfortable backhand, which he hit agonisingly long.

Afterwards, the Briton said: “We put ourselves in a position to win. I missed that point on top of the net, which was ridiculous. We played a good first set and let them back into it. It will hurt.

"I should never have missed that shot and I will probably never miss it again in my career.”

For British captain Tim Henman, who endured a 9-1 career playing record against Hewitt, it was further heartache against his former on-court rival.

Dan Evans had earlier given Great Britain hope with a superb singles win over De Minaur
REUTERS

The former world no4 said: “We have played some great tennis but it’s massively disappointing to get that close and not come out on top. It will sting for a while.”

There was scant consolation for Evans, whose singles win edges him towards being a potential seed for the upcoming Australian Open - an event he had to qualify for a year ago.

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