Great Britain lead Japan in the Davis Cup after Andy and Jamie Murray secure doubles win

Andy and Jamie Murray handed Great Britain a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup first-round tie with Japan after 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory in the doubles.

The reigning Davis Cup champions are poised to edge into the next round if they can defend their advantage over Japan heading into Sunday's two singles matches, where Andy Murray will play Kei Nishikori and Dan Evans meets Taro Daniel.

Murray and world No 6 Nishikori could have sized each other up during Saturday's doubles rubber but Japan surprisingly opted to leave their star player out, opting to use Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama instead.

In Nishikori's absence, his two inexperienced team-mates rarely threatened to trouble the Murray brothers who delighted the Birmingham crowd by controlling the duration of the match.

Nishioka, ranked at No 124 in singles competition, and world No 257 Uchiyama held their own for large parts of the opening set and the first seven games went with serve. A cracking backhand winner from Andy Murray earned the crucial break before he served out the set.

A second consecutive break gave Great Britain an immediate advantage in the second set and they were able to keep Japan at an arm's length throughout. They again broke to go 5-2 ahead, overwhelming Nishioka and Uchiyama and forcing mistakes, before closing the set on serve again.

The Brits were made to work for the necessary break in the third set, but it came in the ninth game as four straight points were conceding by Japan who began to feel the pressure. Andy was then able to serve out the match.

Japan, to their credit, didn't play poorly but they were several levels beneath two-time Grand Slam winner Andy and current Australian Open doubles champion Jamie, the second-ranked doubles player in the world.

Andy will now have the chance to wrap up a Great Britain victory in Sunday's opener against Nishikori, against whom he has a 5-1 head-to-head record.