GB's Italian Job Falls Short

Despite entering the final day in control of the tie, Great Britain collapsed to lose 3-2 to Italy in the quarter-finals of this year's Davis Cup in Naples.

An excellent second day had seen Andy Murray claim both a delayed singles rudder and the doubles rudder alongside Colin Fleming to give GB a commanding 2-1 lead heading into the final pair of singles matches, after James Ward had lost his opening match on a rain-interrupted day one.

However with Murray unable to topple clay-expert Fabio Fognini and James Ward suffering a similar fate to Andreas Seppi, the Italians completed the comeback moving into the semi-finals to face Switzerland. Switzerland staged a comeback of their own, also overturning a 2-1 deficit on the final day against Kazakhstan.

The opening tie sa James Ward take on Fabio Fognini in what looked on paper to be an easy match for the Italian. However, some spilled rainwater on the court left Fognini notably rattled and Ward caused him plenty of problems in the early couple of sets, losing the first 6-4 but recovering to even the match up with a 6-2 victory in the second.

However, as the court dried up Fognini began to take control, seizing the next two sets 6-4 and 6-1 to give Italy the opening rubber. The rain delay in the morning meant barely two sets of the second match was able to be played, Murray winning 6-4 5-5 when play was stopped due to bad light.

Murray came out early on the Saturday knowing he would most likely play in the doubles later that day so dispatched Andreas Seppi hastily, taking the second set 7-5 before claiming the third 6-3 to even up the contest.

The Scot was then called upon the partner Colin Fleming and a commanding performance from the pair meant they won 6-3 6-2 3-6 7-5 against Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli giving Britain a dominant lead going into the final day.

Murray had been unable to train for much of the week with a stomach bug, and it seemed as though this started catching up with him as he played first on Sunday. The Scot never really got going against a rampant Fognini and the Italian cleared up in three sets, winning 6-3 6-3 6-4.

Andreas Seppi then won it for Italy with a dominant singles performance over a nervous looking James Ward, winning 6-4 6-3 6-4. Whilst Italy will take on Switzerland, the other semi-final will see the Czech Republic do battle with France in September.

Published on SEaT Capital.