First Round: Canada v Great Britain Highlights - Day 2 Davis Cup

Good evening. Great Britain was on the verge of victory in the opening

day of their Davis Cup tie after a superb performance from Jamie Murray

and Dominic Inglot who held their nerve to come through a tense

doubles match yesterday. COMMENTATOR: Always pivotal, the

doubles rubber. Top match today, unbelievable quality. A comfortable

breaker Great Britain have set up. I think what was really good is how

they have responded. Great Britain have taken a two sets to one lead.

We stayed strong in important moments, great first set. Great

written win the pivotal doubles. Happy to win the point and give our

guys to bites of the cherry tomorrow. Jenni Murray was good as

always, but Dominic Inglot was the best player on the court, collecting

his second Davis Cup victory to put his team has won away from the

quarterfinals for a fourth year in a row. Onto the final day, and it was

full of incident. We have a lot to look forward to in the next are

half. In the absence of Andy Murray, Dan Evans was Britain's 11. Could he

get victory against the big hitting Vasek Pospisil, a quarterfinalist at

Wimbledon two years ago? And inspired by the Canadian fans,

Pospisil was at his best, he took the first two sets, 7-6, 6-4, Evans

in real trouble. Commentators are John Lloyd and Chris Bratton.

Nearly 80% of points behind his first serve.

It was in! JOHN LLOYD: No one in the crowd was

sure if it was in not, nobody clapped.

UMPIRE: Great Britain challenging the call on the left service line,

the ball was called in. UMPIRE: Great Britain has one

challenge remaining. He needs to hang onto that one

challenge. Until he is pretty sure. Just seeing how many challenges he

had left! UMPIRE: Canada has two challenges

remaining. Oh, that is the worst forehand we

have seen. Dan Evans took off very early to take that fall on the

forehand side, and didn't hit a particularly good shot. It is the

first time he has done that. Surprisingly are from Pospisil.

Plenty of time on this one. Would you believe it. When he has

looked so rock-solid, Evans is back into this third set. He has to

regroup immediately. No thoughts of congratulations at his mind that he

has broken back, right away he must get back to business of holding his

own serve. Which he failed to do in the second set. Exactly. That really

was given away by the Canadian. CHEERING

All of the come ons, the battling, they are being rewarded right now

for Evans. Not a bad change up there. He read

it early. And he hasn't had a lot to cheer

about, as the director is clearly showing us. He has now, he has got

his nose in front. It is not a break, but he's hanging in here very

well. That's all he can do, it is a good effort to get back mentally. So

they have gone into a third hour in this match. Pospisil just needs to

regroup here. Two sets and 3-1, serving at 3-4 third set because he

lost the last three games. Just a little bit slow getting

around that forehand. He has been lightning on most occasions during

this match when the ball was anywhere near his backhand side, he

gets around and hit the forehand, but that one, he didn't get the feet

right. That sin. That's in. You don't want

to take on the Pospisil forehand too many times, but that was an occasion

when it looked like Dan Evans had the chance to get ahead in the

rally, but Berlin response. CHEERING

-- brilliant response. That was a little ragged. That knee

suddenly starts to eight as the tension builds. He was so tight

Friday at the beginning of his match.

Great stride, well played, Pospisil. Just thought there in that early

part of the rally, Evans had a chance to hit the backhand approach

and come in on Pospisil's way weaker side, and he didn't do so. We would

have loved to have seen Pospisil having to hit a backhand passing

shot at 30-30. So much hinges on this man's first

serve. It is a feature that controls the whole match, almost.

Again, just nudged that ball back somehow, it wasn't a particularly

good return, but he got his racket on the ball. What a bonus that

turned out to be. Oh, was it? Evans' return was

perilously close, but... UMPIRE: Great witness challenging

the call. This is huge, right here. Is it

ever. It out! It's four games in a row the

Dan Evans, who will serve for the third set. Way to hang in there, Dan

Evans looked like he was out of this match, kept the police.

UMPIRE: Canada has one challenge remaining.

Got the balls back into play, worked hard. Pospisil's first serve

percentage dropping, maybe a sign of tiredness. A few easy forehand is

missed. The emotional drain must be so

fatiguing in the Davis Cup. It is, having to play three matches in a

row as Pospisil has had to do, sometimes you will get these lapses

of concentration, particularly when you haven't played many matches.

Played so well yesterday, Dom Inglot was probably the start of the show

yesterday for Great Britain, but Jamie Murray backed him up

admirably. UMPIRE: Let, first service.

The pressures change so quickly, don't they? He just rushed a little

bit. Serving to the backhand is paying

dividends. Slowed that serve down a bit, made sure he got it in, kicked

it up I. What a second serve that was! Serve

on the line, forehand off the top of the net. Living dangerously. Set

point Great Britain. He has never won a match from two

sets down, Dan Evans. The comeback begins.

Jamie Baker, your thoughts at this point? It Israeli question of how

Vasek Pospisil regroups. -- it is really a question. The momentum Will

Evans, he is sniffing out the momentum, no question about that.

So much extra energy with Evans right now, inevitably having won the

third set, he had gone through a patch of looking really down and

flat, and he has talked himself out of that. A chance to sit with your

captain at the sit down. You are playing for your country,

you don't want to let people down. It all helps. And they had the kind

of slight disagreement and toing and froing about what to do on the

returns, he seems to have worked through that, he is in a position

where he is happy with what he is doing now.

It's in, and he's got another break point.

Oh, yes, that was good. This is on a break point.

UMPIRE: Canada is challenging the call on the right near side. The

ball was called in. Is that a let if it was in? It has to be, because he

had a play on it. It is definitely in, so what is the call?

UMPIRE: First service. No way. He was going to get the breaks ever

sure, Evans, and he gets the first serve back.

UMPIRE: Canada has to challenges remaining.

Four points in a row. He is building on this momentum, Dan Evans.

SUE BARKER: Evans was on a roll, we move on a few games and Evans is

still up a break, serving at 3-2. JOHN LLOYD: Shaking his head at the

tactic again. Don't change what is working, Dan! How many points did

you get in the last game from nailing the Pospisil backhand? Like

that, and he's not really hurt him off the backhand at all. Commentary

boxes are unbeaten around the world, aren't they? Very grateful to him

for letting us see how good Pospisil's backhand is!

That is another massive clue, isn't it? That actually was a really

tricky volley, as well. Almost touching the net with his right foot

as he slid in here, closing down the net well. Look at that.

Hasn't made that shot the whole match, trying to drive it down the

line. Here is a break point. He sprinted out from the sit down

with the attention of breaking, Pospisil. He's achieved just that.

You do have to say, that is a great effort from the Canadian.

Considering what had happened from the lead in the third set. All the

momentum, a poor start to this fourth set, and he has regrouped.

And that's what it means. SUE BARKER: The captain, the crowd

on their feet as Pospisil gets back level. The next two games went with

serve, so let's read joined the action at four games all.

He might have had a barren spell on serve, but what a time to come into

a purple patch now. What a miss! Perfect play, wasn't

it? A little spring in the step right at

the end, finally banishing the memory of that.

That's the first time he's made one of those. What a time to do it. Yes,

the missed first serve, the sliced return was wide enough, Pospisil

still managing to hit a forehand. You are right, I think this is the

first one we have seen him make. What they return! -- what a return.

40-0, two break point. That point had a drama written all

over it. Three hours and three minutes. How

much drama left in this one? Dan Evans asked to hold serve to keep

the match alive. UMPIRE: Canada has zero challenges

remaining. How was that from 0-15? Cool as you

like. Great play, great commitment from Dan Evans on just about every

shot in that game. Can he find a way?

So many times on the first point he has made the T serve. Very hard for

Evans to have a play on that. Just one kilometre per hour off his

quickest. Weigh over 130 mph. Three aces in a game. Not for the

first time. Tie-break minimum for Pospisil. Fourth set.

UMPIRE: Both teams receive one additional challenge.

UMPIRE: Challenge to the call, the ball was called in.

What a masterful performance from the 26-year-old to put Canada right

back in the tie. Let's hear from him. I played really well. Of

course, the home crowd advantage is an advantage. Daniel was playing

quite well and I had to play at a high level to beat him. I am

thrilled to do it. I knew it was going to be very tough. I was

confident, of course, I am confident in my abilities. You know, the Davis

Cup, you are playing a great player, you never know, it is a coin toss,

really. Very happy I was able to perform at a high standard. So,

level at 2-2. It would all be decided in the final match, for

Briton Kyle Edmund who, by his own admission, played a dismal match

previously, up against Shapovalov. We will see that in a moment. First

of all, Pospisil, an inspired performance. He had a leg injury in

the last two matches but that is the best we have seen him play Fifa

years? We were questioning where his confidence would be at before it

started. A great win on Friday, really close doubles. He played a

fantastic match. It was about the big points. It was enjoyable to see

him actually soaking up the atmosphere so much. He really got

the crowd involved. He thanked the crowd in that interview, but it was

partly the way he played on the big points and also his reaction. He

really fired them up and it really helped. Disappointed with Dan Evans,

he had his chances to get back in. If he could have got the fourth, the

momentum would be with him? At times I thought he would find their way to

win the match. He was nudging his way back. Big points, he did not

convert. Pospisil, after the lack of confidence he had, that maybe Dan

would find a way. He had the chances and didn't take them. Pospisil, you

look at him in this tie and you think his ranking is only going to

go one way, and that is up. The forehand was awesome, the server was

awesome. As Jamie said, the big points, he was magnificent. Every

time the pressure points were there, he played the big ones well. The

British team, Dan Evans played so well on Friday, expecting so much,

and now the pressure is on? Absolutely. The first match, he was

able to dictate a lot of the points. That was a different case here.

Evans, going into the match, he was the best player in the tie. We would

think he would have a good chance of closing out. But anything can happen

in the final rubber, that is for sure. As far as Pospisil is

concerned, when you are serving that well, five aces in a row or

something, was it six? When you have a weapon like that on a court but is

this fast, it is hard to beat? They picked the surface perfectly, that

is what happens in home ties. If Milos Raonic had been here, how

would they have picked? I bet he wishes he could play on the surface

every week of the year. 2-2, it will go down to the fifth and final

match. Kyle Edmund against 17-year-old Shapovalov. We can join

it on a server. The Canadian is serving at 3-4 in the opening set.

I would have loved to have seen Andy Murray, trying to get the Raonic

serve back on this surface. There is an example of that shot. A plenty of

time and should have hit a sliced backhand, went for a full swing

backhand from inside the service box. While the -- wild error.

Snuck it through beautifully. He thought about the forehand,

initially. Solid. Solid point. A well thought

out point. Excellent play. Just didn't look like missing in this

rally. He had command of the rally from the start. Side to side, gets

his opponent on the run and comes in with a backhand volley to finish.

UMPIRE: Canada challenging the call on the left sideline.

That was way out. You look at it when he had that 15-0 point, he had

that comfortable backhand. That is not the best challenge I have ever

seen. That was the first wild game we have seen from him on a couple of

occasions. He looked like a youngster out on

the court in that game. He has worked as hard as anybody,

that gentleman. That is what he's capable of. He is

fearless, we saw that with a double fault on the break point. He swings

at this one. Good recovery, disappointing

forehand on the previous point. Second ace of the game seals the

opening set the Great Britain. SUE BARKER: So, advantage Great

Britain as Edmonds takes the opening set, showing he is in much better

form that his opening match. We pick-up the second at 3-3.

UMPIRE: Let first service. He has broken, but in all the other service

games, he has only lost six points, this man, and two of them were

double faults. UMPIRE: New balls, please.

They enjoyed it, he enjoyed it, he is 4-3 up, second set. Here we go.

Let's treat ourselves to another look at these backhands. Two coming

up, there is one. UMPIRE: Time.

He is loving this. A challenge. New balls in play for Edmund. 3-4,

second set. To refuse of them. -- terrific use

of the. UMPIRE: Let, first service.

He has won ten points in a row on serve. Just that double fault on the

fourth game of this set. It puts pressure on the opponent.

Not getting anywhere near. Great hustle from Kyle Edmund in

that point, he had to eat deep for that backhand corner to stay in

there, forging himself a chance. Well, one break in the first set

came at the business end. Three chances for a repeat here.

Kyle Edmund will serve for a two sets to love lead.

Still under an hour. Edmund gets ready to serve for a two sets to

love lead. 5-4, second set. That is 13 points in a row on serve.

13! It's a commanding position. He's

stepped up, Kyle Edmund, so far in terrific style. The 17-year-old has

got to come from two sets down to win. That's a very tall order.

SUE BARKER: Edmund in superb form, very much in charge of the match. We

rejoin the third set at 1-1. If you blink, you missed two points

it is so quick, it is unbelievable. One hour and 13 minutes. Nadal

winning a set 6-2 takes longer than that! He takes longer to walk on the

court than that! Edmund pushing for another break-in,

earlier on in the set, this time. This is a huge test now.

From that position in the court, that was a two out of ten chance on

that backhand. Terrific from Edmund, he breaks

early. Oh, oh. He meant to hit that out of the stand. Did he hit the

umpire there. The referee is rushing to the court. Oh, boy. This has got

to be a disqualification. The audiences stunned into silence. That

is the incident, oh, I tell you. It looks worse the second time you see

it. UMPIRE: Ladies and gentlemen, game,

set and match, Great Britain, 6-3, 6-4, 4-1 default.

What a shame that that would end this way. It looked like Kyle Edmund

would get the win, but to win like this. Such a shame. He has no

choice, unfortunately. The umpire doesn't want this tie to be finished

this way. But that could be serious. You could lose... I mean, when a

ball gets hit at that pace, obviously he didn't see it coming.

There could be all sorts of damage to the retina and staff. I have had

it myself, and I know. It's closing up, it is terrible. There is a

stunned feel to the end of this tie. Great Britain are through to the

quarterfinals. It was a strange way to finish, I have never been part of

something like that, but I was looking on the positive side, I was

pleased with how I was going about the processes, especially up on the

last match, I improved my game. So yes, today I came out, and I had on

paper the advantage, but we don't play on paper, we are playing on

hard court, and in a pressure environment, especially in the Davis

Cup, a lot can happen. The first thing that comes through my mind,

there is always a lesson to be learned from the good moments and

the worst. If he wants to compete at this level, he has got to keep it

together at all cost, under all circumstances, and emotional control

is the biggest factor in this game. And so hopefully, if there is no

damage to the referee, he can learn from that and learn his lesson to

move forward and hopefully this lesson serves him for the rest of

his career to just control your emotions. It's only a tennis match.

A surprise what happened at the end there, and it's a shame that it has

happen that way, and I feel for the young lad, because he's a great

talent and he's learned a lesson today. But what I would say is I

thought Kyle from what we saw on Friday to come out today against a

lower ranked player, he was absolutely fantastic, the way he

prepared for the match, having commanded the points, he was

unbelievable serving, and kept applying pressure on the terms, I

thought it was a great performance, and even though Evans lost the first

match, against Pospisil, he played it well, good fight. And an away tie

again, does that make things more difficult or are you starting to

enjoy life on the road? We do prefer home ties, but we had a good run at

home ourselves over the last few years. It is obviously the strongest

team in the competition, France, in terms of strength and depth, but we

will enjoy this just now, and we will figure that one out as it comes

along. SUE BARKER: Certainly not the way

that Leon on the team would have wanted to win the tie, but they are

through to the quarterfinals to face France away. You will be able to see

that with us from the seventh to the night of April. What a dramatic

conclusion to the match. We have seen defaults in the past, but never

one so serious. No, that was serious, and we don't know yet

exactly how the amp I's Ahye is turning out, we could see it was

already closing, and we don't know about permanent damage until he sees

the doctor. It was a violent end, and obviously he didn't mean to do

it, but it was a devastating thing. Jamie Cullum you have seen a comment

from the umpire's sister? Yes, they were on the way to the hospital to

get checked out, but she said he was OK but I don't think any test had

been done. And the young man, Denis Shapovalov, has released a statement

where he says, I would like to begin by apologising to the umpire, the

referee and all ITF officials. And we heard that straight after he

went in to speak to the umpire again who was having treatment in the

umpires' room. A harsh lesson, but how'd you come back from something

like this? It was devastating for him, he let his country down, let

himself down, and the umpire, it could have caused serious damage. He

will do, he will realise that he can't do that sort of stuff again,

he will get a lot of trouble in the press for this, quite rightly so, as

he deserves it, but he will rebound. On the bright side, we have seen

some undoubted talent in him, so if he can control it, there is nothing

wrong with getting emotional, we have seen great champions get

emotional, John McEnroe springs to mind, but you can't go to that

extent, and he will have to curb it. There are umpires calling for more

of a ban. I don't fit this story has ended yet, it will run and run.

There was no sign, he hasn't been particularly bad tempered throughout

the tie. Clearly having control in these high-pressure situations is so

important, and this was just a freak accident. Thankfully we don't see it

very often, but when we do it is pretty shocking. And what was

shocking, it hit the umpire at full pace, but if the umpire had ducked,

it would have hit someone in the crowd, it was going that fast. He

would have got defaulted whatever happened, unless he got lucky and

hit a chair or something without hitting a person, but you can't do

that sort of stuff. Why didn't he hit the ball up in the air? The

trajectory, it could have done serious damage. I don't know whether

we want to see it again, but this is it in slow motion, and as you say,

the umpire was looking down, he was about to call the score, so he

wouldn't have seen anything, but you could see afterwards, he was

shaking, the shock of it all. And you could see afterwards, this young

man, it was a fit of rage, but I think it is going to take some time

for him to get over this. Absolutely, who knows what could

happen. You hate to hear this, but you could even have lawsuits,

anything could happen after something like that. The first step

is to hope the umpire is OK, and that will help the recovery process.

Definitely, a sad end to the Davis Cup tie, and a 17-year-old learned a

very harsh lesson today. We certainly wish Arnaud Gabas a speedy

recovery. That is it from the Davis Cup, sorry we had to end like that,

but that's it from us. Goodbye.