ANDY MURRAY believes a British victory in today's pivotal doubles rubber would leave them "strong favourites" to complete a Davis Cup play-off victory over Austria.
Murray ensured the tie is all square after the opening singles with an emphatic straight-sets victory over Alexander Peya.
Earlier in the day, Jurgen Melzer had come from a set and 4-1 down to beat Alex Bogdanovic.
Murray's quickfire victory wi
ll raise the chances of him partnering brother Jamie in today's doubles, but much will depend on whether his suspect knee came through the match unscathed.
The Austrian doubles pairing of Melzer and Julian Knowle will pose Great Britain a significant threat – but Andy Murray would relish the chance to take to Number One court again in front of a vociferous home crowd.
He said: "The doubles is a 50-50 match. Jurgen and Julian have played well together on the tour and in the Davis Cup and have played together more than any of our combinations. It is an important match. If we win the doubles we will be strong favourites to win. If I feel good I will probably play."
Andy Murray yesterday relished the opportunity to send a message to Melzer that he is no Davis Cup choker.
Melzer claimed Murray would struggle to cope with the pressure because "the whole country expects him to win the Davis Cup by himself". But Murray, the new world No.4, had no troubles in dispatching Peya 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 – and he then made a choking gesture to mock Melzer's assessment.
He said afterwards: "I was told I wasn't going to be able to handle the pressure particularly well but Jurgen struggled out there a little bit more than me.
"It is not nice when fellow competitors make those sort of suggestions. The difference between the top-ten players and the rest is that they deal well with the pressure. That is why, when I was two sets to love down and two points away from losing against him (at the US Open] I played some of my best tennis to get back into the match."
The full article contains 369 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
