TENNIS: Italy Ends British Davies Cup run

Great Britain have been eliminated from the
Davis Cup at the quarter-final stage after Italy
won both final day singles rubbers to claim a
3-2 win in Naples.
GB were dealt a blow early on Sunday
afternoon when Andy Murray fell to a 3-6 3-6
4-6 defeat at the hands of Fabio Fognini,
leaving a winner-takes-all showdown
between James Ward and Andreas Seppi.
It always looked a tough ask for Ward, ranked
161 in the world, and so it proved as No 34
Seppi swept to a 6-4 6-3 6-4 win to put Italy
into their first Davis Cup semi-final since
1998.
Murray had led Britain to a 2-1 lead on
Saturday by finishing off a singles win over
Seppi before partnering Colin Fleming to a
doubles victory in Naples.
But Fognini is a superb player on clay –
Murray’s least favoured surface – and he
proved it in style as he was just too good for
the British No 1 in his straight-sets success.
Fognini broke Murray five times during the
match, with the Scot's serve looking
continually shaky, and despite some pressure
Fognini gave up his serve just once.
Partisan crowd
The home crowd in Naples gave Fognini some
rousing support throughout the match.
It almost threatened to boil over in the early
stages as Fognini became embroiled in
discussions with some British fans, but the
Italians more than made up for that with their
noise level really affecting Murray at times.
It was Murray's first singles defeat in Davis
Cup since losing to Stanislas Wawrinka in
2005 and ended a run of 19 consecutive wins.
Ward put up a strong showing in a four-set
defeat to Fognini, Italy’s best player, in the
opening singles match on Friday, but Seppi
rose to the occasion in front of a partisan
home crowd.
The key moments of Ward's match against
Seppi came in the first set.
The Italian has not had a good season so far
and has a reputation for struggling with
nerves, and that seemed to be borne out as
three times Ward retrieved breaks of serve.
The last came when Seppi served for the set at
5-3, but a rain break did not help Ward as he
promptly dropped serve for a third straight
time to lose the set.
One break of serve for Seppi, in the sixth
game, was enough for him to take the second
set and the end was nigh when he moved 4-1
ahead in the third.
To Ward's credit, he kept fighting and saved a
match point at 3-5 but Seppi stayed strong
and served out the win impressively.
Britain's win over the United States in
February ensured they would play in the World
Group again next season.