There was a sense of optimism within the British team ahead of the final day of the Davis Cup quarter-final against Italy, and despite the end result, it was not misplaced. Andy Murray had led the team home in identical circumstances in both September's World Group play-off against Croatia and February's first-round tie in the United States, but in Naples, Fabio Fognini was simply too good. (Source: BBC Sport)
Result: Italy 3-2 Great Britain
- Friday: Fognini beats Ward 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-1
- Saturday: Murray beats Seppi 6-4 7-5 6-3; Murray/Fleming bt Fognini/Bolelli 6-4 6-2 3-6 7-5
- Sunday: Fognini beats Murray 6-3 6-3 6-4, Seppi beats Ward 6-4 6-3 6-4
Combining excellence and consistency, in a way that often escapes him, Fognini outplayed the Wimbledon champion. His world ranking of 13 does not accurately reflect his pedigree on clay, even if he has often stumbled against a player of Murray's calibre in the past.
Murray admits he needs to spend more time on the surface to become more fluent in the tricks of the trade. An honest assessment is that defeat by such a seasoned clay-court practitioner would also not have been a huge surprise on the clay of the ATP tour.
There remains, though, a huge sense of disappointment, and of an opportunity lost - not least of all for a semi-final with Switzerland on Wimbledon's Centre Court, which would have been a wonderful shop window for the sport. Such has been GB's success over the past 12 months that about 700 fans travelled to Naples more in expectation than in hope.
Was it the wrong decision to pick James Ward ahead of the higher-ranked Dan Evans? Not on clay, where Ward is the more experienced and successful of the two. He played above himself in Friday's four-set defeat by Fognini - a match which may not have taken place if Ward had not managed to beat Sam Querrey in such style in San Diego.
[...] The reality is that it is very difficult to progress through the World Group with only one top-50 player. In recent years, Rafael Nadal has had help from David Ferrer, Novak Djokovic from Janko Tipsarevic, and Tomas Berdych from Radek Stepanek as the Czech Republic have won the cup two years in a row.
Ward and Evans - with excellent back-up from doubles players like Fleming, Hutchins and Jamie Murray - performed magnificently in taking Britain to the cusp of the World Group when Andy Murray took a step back from the team. But they will always be up against it in the World Group. Britain needs to find another top-50 player before Murray retires.
GB men in world rankings
- 8: Andy Murray (Age, 26)
- 130: Dan Evans (23)
- 161: James Ward (27)
- 233: Dan Cox (23)
- 272: Dan Smethurst (23)
- 286: David Rice (25)
- 298: Kyle Edmund (19)
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