Andy Murray farewell campaign still alive after saving five match ...

Updated 28/07/2024 at 20:10 GMT

Andy Murray extended his career with a remarkable Olympic men's doubles victory alongside Dan Evans as the British duo saved five match points to beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel in a deciding 10-point tie-break.

Nishikori and Daniel took the opening set comfortably and were 9-4 up in the deciding tie-break, but Murray and Evans reeled off seven points in a row to win 2-6 7-6(5) 11-7 and move into the second round.

The result means Murray will play at least one more match before retiring, while his hopes of a fairytale farewell gold remain alive.

The Team GB pair will meet either Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen or France’s Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils next.

It was all Japan in the opening exchanges on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. A break point came and went in the third game but they soon made amends, winning four games in a row from 2-2 to take the first set.

Evans beat Switzerland’s Moez Echargui in three sets in the first round of the men’s singles earlier on Sunday and looked a step or so off the pace early on, while Murray also lacked sharpness.

In contrast and much like Murray’s opponents in the first round of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon, Nishikori and Daniel did little wrong.

They both returned superbly, were far stronger at the net and secured another break in the first game of the second set.

'It could be an emotional one' - Murray and Evans walk out for doubles match

Japan won seven games in a row before Great Britain stopped the rot with a hold and a break to give themselves a lifeline, but Murray’s underpower serve remained a liability.

GB were broken on the Scot’s serve for the third time in the match as Japan immediately re-established their second-set advantage to move 4-2 ahead and on the verge of victory.

But the British pair continued to fight, a trademark Murray backhand and a Nishikori double-fault seeing them break to love to level at 4-4 before the set went to a tie-break.

Japan led 2-0 but Murray and Evans found their best form of the match to win six of the next seven points before taking the second set with a volley winner at the net.

That set up an extraordinary deciding 10-point tie-break. It was close early on as the teams shared the first six points but a run of five in a row put Japan in the ascendancy as the errors flowed from the racquets of Murray and Evans.

A Daniel drive volley up the line brought up five match points for Japan but, astonishingly, GB fought back to level at 9-9 after a pinpoint Evans drive volley of his own.

A big serve gave the Brits their first match point and they capped off an incredible win when Daniel found the net.

It sparked wild scenes of celebration and provided a fitting reminder of the battling qualities of the British duo as Murray put his retirement on hold for now.

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