Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/560492
ITFWORLD SUMMER 2015 11 www.itftennis.com whitewashed Great Britain 5-0. There was little prospect of such a one-sided repeat on this occasion with the hosts into the last eight for a second successive year, although the French were still favourites as they looked to move one step closer to claiming the trophy which eluded them in a defeat to Switzerland in last year's final. British No. 2 James Ward came into the tie on a high after entering the top 100 for the first time after his third-round run at Wimbledon, but so did Gilles Simon after reaching the quarterfinals and the Frenchman's combination of variety and defence proved too strong for Ward in a 64 64 61 victory. Just seven days after losing to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semifinals, Andy Murray returned to the court to take on familiar foe Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It was a tricky test at first for Murray, particularly a tight second-set tiebreak which he edged 12- 10. Tsonga was left demoralised and the British No. 1 went on to level the tie with a 75 76 62 win. Murray then teamed up with brother Jamie, who had reached the men's doubles final at Wimbledon. In a thrilling doubles rubber, Tsonga and Nicolas Mahut took the first set before the Murray siblings fought back for a 46 63 76 61 win which had the home crowd in raptures. As pumped up as Murray was at this point, he looked out of sorts when he returned for his reverse singles rubber the next day, falling to his knees in exhaustion after a 35-shot rally as Simon went a set and a break up. But Murray dug into his deepest physical and mental reserves to break back and claim the second-set tiebreak before sealing a 46 76 63 60 win in three hours and 26 minutes which further improved his Davis Cup singles record to 23-2. The occasion meant so much to Murray that he was in tears afterwards on his courtside bench after securing a first semifinal berth for Great Britain since 1981. The tie at Queen's was not the only grass- court action during this Davis Cup weekend. In Darwin 8,600 miles away, Australia took on Kazakhstan at the Marrara Sporting Complex. The visitors had reached the quarterfinals four times in the past five years, but had never progressed further. In a sign of how desperate they were to tread into new territory, they arrived a week earlier than the hosts to ensure they were fully prepared. It paid off on the opening day. Kazakh No. 1 Mikhail Kukushkin comfortably beat Thanasi Kokkinakis 64 63 63 in what was a disappointing first Davis Cup appearance on home soil for the Jamie and Andy Murray teamed up for doubles duty Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost both his matches It was a momentous weekend for veteran Lleyton Hewitt Gilles Simon started well before losing the decisive match to Andy Murray