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An emotional Andy Murray revealed he missed his grandmother\u2019s funeral to help Great Britain to victory against Switzerland in the Davis Cup.<\/p>\n
Murray battled to a 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-4 victory over debutant Leandro Riedi in three hours and 10 minutes at Manchester\u2019s AO Arena before breaking down in tears during his on-court interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is a tough day for me, it\u2019s my gran\u2019s funeral today,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sorry to my family that I\u2019m not able to be there but gran, this one\u2019s for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray then returned to his bench where he sat sobbing into his towel.<\/p>\n
Asked in his press conference later whether he had considered not playing, the Scot said: \u201cI spoke to my dad about it and he said that she\u2019d want you to play. He just said make sure you win, so I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Murray had not even told captain Leon Smith, who said later: \u201cThat would have been very difficult for him. I really feel for him. It just shows his strength of character to do what he did today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure that was tough for him to miss. All you can say is what he then goes out and does is really quite incredible, and it was vitally important as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Norrie was then beaten 7-5 6-4 by Stan Wawrinka but Britain have one foot in the finals week in Malaga in November after Dan Evans and Neal Skupski won the deciding doubles rubber 6-3 6-3.<\/p>\n
The circumstances of Murrray\u2019s victory made his efforts in coming through another long and tense battle even more impressive.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old had only lost three of his previous 35 singles matches in the competition and never to a player ranked as low as world number 152 Riedi, but the big-hitting 21-year-old produced a performance well above that.<\/p>\n
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Having seen his gamble to play debutant Jack Draper and Evans handsomely pay off in Wednesday\u2019s victory over Australia, Smith made use of his options by naming Murray and Norrie as his singles players here.<\/p>\n
Murray played singles against Kazakhstan at the same stage last year but only once Britain were already eliminated, making this his first live singles rubber in the competition since 2019 and only his second in seven years.<\/p>\n
Switzerland also sprung a surprise by picking Riedi ahead of their number two Dominic Stricker, and Murray admitted that had thrown him having prepared to face a left-hander.<\/p>\n
Initially it looked like it might be a comfortable afternoon for the Scot who, after negotiating an 11-minute first game, had a chance to open up a 4-0 lead.<\/p>\n
He could not take it, though, and Riedi worked his way into the contest, beginning to cause Murray increasing problems with his big forehand and aggressive tactics.<\/p>\n
They earned him a break back when the Scot served for the set at 5-3, and Murray was then unable to take two set points in the tie-break, Riedi converting his first opportunity with his 22nd winner.<\/p>\n
The young Swiss, who had never previously beaten a top-50 player, had his tail up and Murray kicked his bag in frustration after failing to break in the third game of the second set.<\/p>\n
He finally made the breakthrough at 3-3 only for Riedi to play a blistering return game. Undeterred, Murray engineered another break and this time held onto it with trademark grim determination to level the match.<\/p>\n
Ultimately experience won, although it was still nip and tuck, with Murray slamming his racket to the court after handing an early break back in the decider.<\/p>\n
He broke again to lead 3-2, though, and quashed Riedi\u2019s hopes of a comeback by taking his first match point with an ace.<\/p>\n
Murray said: \u201cIt\u2019s obviously incredible to get through that one, it easily could have gone the other way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was ridiculous the shots he was pulling off, amazing, amazing returning. I kept fighting and tried to stay focused and managed to turn it round.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norrie was unable to match Murray\u2019s efforts, though, his struggles continuing, leaving Evans and Skupski to try to finish the job.<\/p>\n
They have established themselves as Smith\u2019s preferred doubles pair and produced a fine performance against Wawrinka and Stricker to put Britain top of the group table ahead of Sunday\u2019s clash with France.<\/p>\n
They will qualify on Saturday if Switzerland beat Australia but victory for Lleyton Hewitt\u2019s side would leave them with work still to do.<\/p>\n
There are three other groups being played across Europe and, in Valencia, Novak Djokovic was back out on court five days after winning his 24th grand slam title to help Serbia to victory over Spain.<\/p>\n
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Djokovic\u2019s 6-3 6-4 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina secured Serbia\u2019s passage through to Malaga but eliminated Spain, meaning the final eight event will be played without a home team.<\/p>\n
Defending champions Canada, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have also booked their places after winning their opening two matches.<\/p>\n