Judy Murray called it a “Fine Bromance.”
Her sons Andy and Jamie don’t often get together on the tennis court, but when they do it can be “magic” — and it might help Great Britain reach the semifinals of the Davis Cup for the first time since 1981.
The brothers, with mom watching, combined in the doubles Saturday to give their country a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five rubber against France at London’s Queen’s Club.
Andy, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon this month, was drafted in by GB captain Leon Smith after winning his Friday singles match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The world No. 3 can clinch victory Sunday by beating Gilles Simon in the first of the reverse singles matches.
“I didn’t care who played as along as we won the match,” Jamie Murray said after the 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 victory against Tsonga and Nicolas Mahut.
“But to go out there with your brother and play for your country, and having Leon on the bench who has been part of our careers from a young age, it was really special. It was a magic day.”
The Scottish siblings last played together at an ATP Tour event in 2013, while their only Davis Cup outing as a doubles duo was four years ago against Luxembourg, when they also won.
“When we play together on the tour, I want to win for Jamie, but for the whole weekend here it’s different, you want to win for the whole team,” said Andy.
“You want to win for the country as well so it’s a bit different. Maybe that helps me a little bit when I play with Jamie in the Davis Cup.”
The winner of the Britain-France quarterfinal will face either Kazakhstan or Australia.
The Australians kept their hopes alive by winning Saturday’s doubles rubber in Darwin, as veteran Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth teamed up to beat Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-2.
Captain Wally Masur will need to decide whether to give former world No. 1 Hewitt what could be his final appearance for his country in Sunday’s reverse singles, after young hopes Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis lost on Friday.
“Form and confidence is important and I was really impressed with these two guys today. They had great clarity. They knew exactly what they had to do. Our backs were against the wall,” Masur said.
Meanwhile, Belgium will host Argentina in the other semifinal, to be played September 18-20, after both nations secured unbeatable 3-0 leads.
The Belgians are through to the last four for the first time since 1999 after former French Open junior champion Kimmer Coppejans and Ruben Bemelmans beat Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Adil Shamasdin 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-3 in Middelkerke.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina comfortably defeated a Serbia side missing this month’s Wimbledon champion and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer thrashed Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki 6-2 6-4 6-1 on clay to earn a trip to Belgium in what will be the South Americans’ 10th semifinal since returning to the World Group in 2002.
