Bryans win doubles to keep US alive in Davis Cup
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The "Bryan Bump" returned to the Davis Cup on Saturday.
As soon as Bob Bryan's overhand smash on match point zipped past Britain's Dominic Inglot and Colin Fleming, the celebration was on. Bob and identical twin Mike leaped into the air to do the famed chest bump they use to celebrate their victories.
The Bryans' 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory Saturday pulled the United States to 2-1 against Britain in the first round of the Davis Cup and ended the brothers' Davis Cup losing streak at two.
"We've been waiting a long time to get another opportunity to get that bad taste out of our mouth," Bob Bryan said. "It always feels bad to let the team down. We were kind of coming out of our shoes, really itching to get on the court."
The twins had a mini-chest bump after breaking Inglot's serve to take a 2-0 lead in the fourth set.
The match will be decided Sunday in reverse singles, when Wimbledon winner Andy Murray of Britain faces Sam Querrey. If Querrey can somehow pull an upset, it will then come down to James Ward of Britain against Donald Young. Murray won the opening singles match in straight sets against Young on Friday while Ward rallied to beat Querrey in five sets.
"We brought some good energy. Now it's our job to get behind Sam and fire up for tomorrow," Bob Bryan said.
"Sam has a win over Andy. What do you tell him?" U.S. coach Jim Courier said. "He has to play better than he did yesterday to stand a chance. Andy is a great player who plays well under pressure and tomorrow is going to be one of those matches, where Andy knows if he loses then everything is on the table in that fifth match.
"For Sam it's a free swinging match," Courier added. "So hopefully he'll go out there and let it fly."
With Britain leading 2-0 entering Saturday, captain Leon Smith replaced Murray with Inglot for doubles.
Courier said the Americans weren't surprised by the switch by the British.
"We had every game plan on the table and we prepared in the warmup for Inglot," he said.
The Bryans broke Inglot's serve in the second game of the first set and then broke Fleming's serve to win the set.
The Bryans didn't face a break point until they trailed 30-40 in the sixth game of the third set. Fleming hit a backhander down the line to win the game for a 4-2 lead for the British. The teams held serve and the British won the set when Inglot had two straight aces in the ninth game.
Fleming said the British were hoping to pull off an upset to make Sunday's matches moot.
"There is no doubt that yesterday sets us up in a position where we could go out there and have a really good go at the match," he said. "We spoke before the match. Obviously they were big favorites, but we felt like if we could go out there and just focus on the tennis match, we would have a chance of causing an upset and winning the tie today.
"That's why we're disappointed because we didn't play as well as we were hoping for. You know, credit to the Bryans."
The Bryans "take it to you every single time," Inglot said. "They're never going to give you any free points. They're always going to put it in the court on the big points and always going to make you play."
The match is being played on a red clay court in a temporary stadium built against the left-field bleachers at Petco Park, the downtown home of baseball's San Diego Padres.
Three World Group matches have been clinched with 3-0 scores: Switzerland over Serbia, Germany against Spain and France against Australia.
In other matches, the Czech Republic leads Netherlands 2-1, Japan leads Canada 2-1 and Italy leads Argentina 2-1.
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