Andy Murray started the tie with a match against Taro Daniel, who didn’t turn out to be a suitable opponent, as Murray won 6-1 6-3 6-1 in 92 minutes. Kei Nishikori then came out there to equal the tie against Daniel Evans and also won in straight sets, 6-3 7-5 7-6.
Andy Murray was the Brit opening this tie in Birmingham against Japan, facing Taro Daniel in his first match in this tie and his first match since the Australian Open final. Daniel didn’t win a point in the first two games, and didn’t win a game until 5-0, when he saved a set point and turned the game around. Murray then successfully served out the first set. Taro Daniel stepped up on his service games, not letting Murray to break until 3-3, when he finally did, took the lead and forced Daniel to serve to stay in the set at 3-5. Daniel was down 15-40, saved one set point but then lost the second set as well. Murray once again started well, breaking early and then endured a three deuce game at 3-1, keeping the advantage of a break. Daniel then lost the lead of 40-15 on his serve, getting broken and Murray served the match out after an hour and 32 minutes.
The second match had another Top 10 player in Kei Nishikori, facing off against a lower ranked player in Daniel Evans. Kei Nishikori didn’t lose a point in his service games until 2-3. despite there being three breaks in the first set, Nishikori stayed in control throughout the first set, winning it 6-3 after holding serve after a string of 3 breaks. Second set was very set on serve, we saw only one break of serve. Evans looked like he might take the set, when he was leading 0-40 at 3-3 on Nishikori’s serve, but he managed to string together 5 points in a row to keep the lead. Both players held until Evans was serving to stay in the set at 5-7, when he was 15-40 on his serve. He did manage to save those two set points, only to lose the set later that game. Set 3 was really contrasting to the second set, Breaks stacked on each other, it was very chaotic, but in the end they still came out at 4-4. From then on, both players held serve until the tiebreak, in which Nishikori came out on top, winning it 7-3.
