Murray steers Britain to victory

Andy Murray kept his nerve to clinch a fiery fourth rubber and seal Great Britain’s Davis Cup Euro-African Zone Group One relegation play-off victory over Ukraine in Odessa.

Murray beat Ukrainian number one Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 6-2 7-5 to earn his team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie with just one dead rubber remaining.

There was clearly no love lost between the two combatants, who exchanged icy glares and harsh words throughout, while Murray incurred an official warning for protesting a third-set line call.

Murray celebrated wildly when two reaction volleys grabbed him the crucial final break on the Stakhovsky serve in the 11th game of the third set.

And he battled back from two break points down to successfully serve out for the match and finally silence an increasingly boisterous home crowd.

Murray said: “I played one bad game on my serve but apart from that I did not give him too many chances. I did not play at my best but it was enough to win.

“Winning any Davis Cup match means a lot because it is a great honour to represent your country and it’s the first time I have had to play all three games.”

Murray’s win may have come at a price as he clutched an ice pack to his chest afterwards, but he insisted he felt good enough to set straight off for next week’s Bangkok Open.

Murray added: “Every time I breathed I was feeling a shooting pain in my chest. It happened early in the third set but hopefully I will be OK for next week.”

Murray might have been expecting a tougher test against the world number 188 who has performed well despite losing to Greg Rusedski on Friday, and hammered the Scot to straight-sets doubles defeat yesterday.

He started shakily and had to save two break points in the fifth game of the match before raising his game to immediately break his opponent to love.

Murray never looked likely to surrender that advantage and after reeling off five successive games to take the second set his victory appeared secure.

Despite breaking Stakhovsky in the third set game which produced his official warning, Murray then dropped his next serve to love, leading to some anxious moments on the British bench.

But Murray responded by showing plenty of heart, breaking his opponent again, then recovering from two break points down to serve out for the match.