The first round of the Davis Cup is fully underway and outside of Italy moving on to the quarterfinals, and every first round bracket is still in play. Great Britain is looking to repeat as Davis Cup champions in 2016, and Andy Murray and his bother Jamie took a big step Saturday, taking a 2-1 lead over Japan with a three-set win over Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama.
The Murray brothers dominated the match winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, which gets U.S. Open and Wimbledon Open champion Andy Murray one step closer to repeating as a Davis Cup Champion. The second ranked player in the world, Murray, is now set to face the sixth ranked player Kei Nishikori in Sunday's reverse singles rubbers.
Murray can clinch Great Britain into the quarterfinals with a win over Nishikori, but if he can hand Murray his first singles loss on a hard court in the Davis Cup, it would come down to a match between Great Britain's Daniel Evans and Japan's Taro Daniel. Murray has won 13 straight matches and is looking to continue Britain's dominance, as they won the title for the first time in 79 years last year.
While the two British brothers handled Japan, the U.S.' Bob and Mike Bryan earned a hard-fought win over Australia's Lleyton Hewitt and John Peers in five sets 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3. The Australian team captain, Hewitt, came out of retirement to replace an ill Nick Kyrgios.
The U.S. took a 2-1 lead winning the doubles match on Saturday and will look to close is out with John Isner facing Bernand Tomic, followed by Jack Sock against Sam Groth. Those lineups could change before Sunday, as Hewitt could make another appearance. The U.S. is looking to make it out of the first round this year after being knocked out by Great Britain in the first round last year, and Australia is looking to rebound, as they made it all the way to the semifinals last year only to lose to the British 3-2.
Elsewhere in the Davis Cup, the world's top ranked player, Novak Djokovic, took a loss in doubles with partner Nenad Zimonjic, as Serbia fell 2-1 behind Kazakhstan with Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov's three-set win. Golubev and Nedovyesov dominated the doubles match, winning 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
Serbia coach Bogdan Obradovic is confident that his team will be able to fight back, and they will need big matches on Sunday, as Djokovic will face Mikhail Kukushkin while Viktor Troicki faces Nedovyesov in reverse singles.
