Murray enjoys ‘perfect debut’ in Fed Cup

The experienced pair were chosen ahead of Laura Robson and Heather Watson for singles duty against Portugal and posted straight-sets victories over lower-ranked opponents to give the team a solid opening to their Europe/Africa Group I Pool C campaign at the four-day event in Eilat, Israel.

Murray’s squad gained an unassailable lead in the clash with Portugal thanks to the success of the singles duo, before Watson and Robson sealed a 3-0 victory for Great Britain with a doubles win.

“Today was fantastic,” said Murray. “We had two convincing wins in the singles, straight sets wins for Anne first of all and then for Bally, and then the younger girls who had a little bit of a sticky start in the doubles came through very strongly so we didn’t drop a set and it was relatively straightforward. For me it was the perfect debut, but it’s only the first match.”

Britain are a long way from competing at the highest level in the Fed Cup. They have been in Europe/Africa Zone Group I for eight years in a row but, with two top-100 players and Robson and Watson both on the brink of double-digit rankings, there are high hopes that this could be the year they get their chance in World Group II. They will play the Netherlands and Israel over the next two days, with the possibility of a promotion play-off on Saturday if they finish top of their pool.

Keothavong, 88th in the WTA rankings, was first on court against world No 194 Maria Joao Koehler and recorded a 6-3 6-4 success. Baltacha, the world No 57, then took on Michelle Larcher De Brito, the 19-year-old who in the early stages of her career has faced criticism for the noise she makes on court.

Larcher De Brito, 136th in the world, was no match for Baltacha as the Scot triumphed 6-2 6-3. Watson, 19, and 18-year-old Robson then beat Koehler and Larcher De Brito 7-5 6-0 after recovering from a break down in the first set. Murray, mother of world No 4 Andy Murray and doubles specialist Jamie, came to the Fed Cup captaincy on the back of a strong track record in coaching. The former Scottish national coach took up her new role with the Lawn Tennis Association in December.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Dan Evans could not add to his three wins from the qualifying stage as he bowed out in the first round of the Zagreb Indoors yesterday. Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the world No 77, proved too strong for Evans, recovering from a mid-match blip to win 6-4 1-6 6-1.

Evans, the 21-year-old from Birmingham, is due to play singles in Britain’s Davis Cup tie against Slovakia in Glasgow next week, with Andy Murray unavailable due to minor injury concerns. The youngster showed encouraging form in beating Canadian Frank Dancevic, Croatian Franco Skugor and Swiss player Stephane Bohli to come through qualifying in Zagreb.

However, Garcia-Lopez had the stamina to get past him in their clash, getting on top of the Evans serve from the early stages and showing superiority in the deciding set. British No 5 Evans, ranked 296th in the world, has not played in the Davis Cup since losing both his singles matches in the defeat by Lithuania in March 2010.

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will not play in Serbia’s Davis Cup match against Sweden this month. Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic announced yesterday that he has decided to let the top-ranked Djokovic rest after he beat Rafael Nadal in a grueling five-set final in Melbourne.

Obradovic said that “we want to spare Djokovic to help him remain the world’s No 1 player and win gold at the Olympic Games in London”.

“I had difficultly to persuade Djokovic not to play against Sweden, but think we can beat them even without him,” added Obradovic.