"I missed that shot basically on top of the net, which was ridiculous"
Thursday 9 January 2020 13:46, UK
Jamie Murray was left to rue a "ridiculous" backhand miss as Great Britain went down to Australia 2-1 in a dramatic ATP Cup quarter-final.
Murray and Joe Salisbury had four match points but they failed to take their chances as Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur came through in the decisive doubles rubber to win 3-6 6-3 18-16.
An intense encounter went to the wire before Australia eventually prevailed to advance to the semi-finals and a meeting with either Belgium or Spain.
But Murray was left to rue a backhander on top of the net which sailed long in an epic tie-breaker
"I missed that shot basically on top of the net, which was ridiculous," he said. "We hung in and we did well. We just couldn't quite get the last point. Yeah, we lost. I mean, that was it."
Earlier Dan Evans had beat De Minaur in the first singles match to force the decisive doubles contest in a marathon contest which lasted three hours and 23 minutes.
"That's why I play sport is for occasions like that. I enjoyed it," Evans said. "It hurt a bit, but I enjoyed every minute of it out there.
"Hopefully everyone in the crowd enjoyed it, as well. I was just proud to put a point on the board for the guys and we obviously didn't, but it was hopefully to go out there and get the win and win the tie, but that's the way it goes."
Kyrgios claimed the dramatic victory ranked as one of the best moments of his career.
Australia had to wait to celebrate, with Britain challenging whether Kyrgios' serve landed on the service line after Salisbury missed a backhand return on Australia's fifth match point, but once confirmed De Minaur and Kyrgios collapsed into an embrace on court.
"It was unreal," Kyrgios said on the ATP Cup website. "The adrenaline has kind of worn off and I'm exhausted after that match. It was awesome.
"Today was probably one of the best moments in my career, definitely. Just making it through to the semi-final, the first-ever ATP Cup in that type of fashion, was pretty special... we genuinely care for each other, and [our team-mates] were genuinely just so ecstatic to get through."
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