Andy Murray gave Britain the ideal launch pad in their Davis Cup tie with Poland when he won the opening singles rubber at Liverpool’s Echo Arena in straight sets.
The world No 3 was given what looked the easiest of openers against Michal Przysiezny, a man languishing 675 places below him on the ATP computer, but the Pole put up a spirited performance which belied his ranking before Murray’s class told and he ran away to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 triumph in a couple of minutes over two hours.
Murray, playing his first match since being knocked out by Marin Cilic in the US Open, was certainly not at his sharpest and appeared to still be slightly bothered on his double-fisted backhands by pain from his sore, strapped left wrist.
“It’s a very good start,” said a satisfied Murray afterwards. Asked if he would definitely be starting tomorrow’s doubles, he added: “I’ll have to wait and see.”
Murray’s rustiness disappeared as the match wore on and he had far too much in his armoury for Przysiezny, who after providing decent resistance in a 44-minute opening set, began to succumb increasingly to Murray’s accuracy once broken at the start of the second.
It gave Britain a quick lead in the match which they need to win to preserve their place in first group of the Euro-Africa Zone, the second tier of the Davis Cup, and offered confidence to debutant Dan Evans, who was next up after watching the opening set at courtside.
Murray urged the crowd to give full support to the 19-year-old, telling them: “It’s Dan’s first Davis Cup match and he needs a lot of support.”
Murray had promised Przysiezny full respect, insisting that he did not believe the Pole’s ranking of 678 – he once reached the world’s top 200 – reflected his true ability.
Indeed, his record of eight wins in 11 Davis Cup rubbers suggested he was not going to be the sort to be intimidated by the “big atmosphere” British captain John Lloyd had demanded from the Merseyside crowd. Murray certainly received the noisy support which he had asked for, despite the 5,000-seater arena not being full for the opening game.
The 25-year-old Przysiezby started with aplomb, demonstrating a sharp serve, competent volleying and some imaginative drop shots but he threw in one terrible service game at 1-1 when he made four consecutive unforced mistakes to gift Murray the early break.
The rest of the set went with serve until Murray, serving for the set, found himself facing three break points after mishitting two backhands and looking irritably at his wrist.
Each time, Murray bailed himself out, once with a 134mph serve, to take the set and when one supreme forehand winner helped him break for 2-1 in the second, he dropped only three more points on serve to race to the second set.
Again, the Scot forced a break at the start of the third and it was plain sailing until Murray was forced to save a break point at 4-3 with a 136mph ace.
After wrapping up victory, captain John Lloyd said: “Andy was solid. His opponent played very well but Andy handled him nice and comfortably.”
Match schedule (GB names first):
Friday: Andy Murray (GB) def Michal Przysiezny (Pol) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
Jerzy Janowicz (Pol) def Dan Evans (GB) 6-3, 6-3, 7-6
Saturday: Murray and Ross Hutchins (GB) v Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg (Pol)
Sunday: Murray (GB) v Janowicz (Pol)
Evans (GB) v Przysiezny (Pol)
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