Davis Cup 2016: Great Britain on the cusp of semi-finals as Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot win doubles rubber
James Ward suffered a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 defeat by Dusan Lajovic before Murray and Inglot defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Filip Krajinovic
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Your support makes all the difference.Great Britain need to win one of Sunday's singles matches against Serbia to reach the Davis Cup semi-finals again after Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot won the doubles rubber in Belgrade.
The defending champions led overnight thanks to Kyle Edmund's convincing victory over Janko Tipsarevic but James Ward was just as well beaten by Dusan Lajovic in the delayed second rubber played on Saturday afternoon.
That left the tie firmly in the balance, with the doubles rubber seen as crucial to both teams' hopes, but especially to those of Britain.
There were plenty of nerves on show but the British pair recovered from a wobble at the end of the second set and the start of the third to win 6-1 6-7 (2/7) 6-3 6-4.
Murray and Inglot had only played one previous Davis Cup rubber together before, losing to America's Bryan brothers in the opening round last year.
The Murray brothers teamed up for the rest of the title-winning campaign, leaving Inglot sitting on the sidelines and still waiting for his first victory in the competition.
That was expected to come here, with Serbia fielding Nenad Zimonjic, a classy but fading doubles force at the age of 40, and the inexperienced Filip Krajinovic.
The Serbians had named Tipsarevic in their doubles pair at the draw on Thursday but he revealed after Friday's match that he was struggling with illness.
He hinted that Krajinovic, who had not played a match since May because of injury, was also far from 100 per cent, and the 24-year-old looked distinctly rusty as Britain raced through the opening set with the sun finally shining over the Tasmajdan Stadium.
Murray and Inglot had chances in the second set, too, missing four break points, and Zimonjic took full advantage in the tie-break.
The start of the third set was the key to the match, with Serbia now playing confidently, and both Inglot and Murray came under pressure on their serves.
But they weathered it and finally ended a run of nine unconverted break points when Zimonjic double-faulted to trail 5-3.
Britain made it five games in a row to lead 2-0 in the fourth and survived a nervy last service game from Inglot to make it 15 doubles victories from the last 17 rubbers.
Earlier, Ward, whose ranking has slipped to 240, played like a man lacking in form and confidence as he went down 6-1 6-3 6-2 to world number 81 Lajovic.
Both players went into the clash on four-match losing streaks but it was clear from the start that Lajovic was the more natural clay-court competitor.
Both men struggled with their footing on the boggy clay-court, which was iffy to start with and certainly not helped by 24 hours of rain.
More rain meant the match, which had been due to be played on Friday night, was delayed by a further hour on Saturday, and Ward said: "It's one of the heaviest clay courts I've ever played on.
"It definitely doesn't suit my game. But he was very good today. It was a tough start but he didn't do too much wrong throughout. The tactics we had set up were pretty much completely opposite to everything he did in the first set, which is credit to him."
Ward was not originally in the team but got the call to replace Dan Evans last Wednesday, just six hours before he was due to fly to the States for a grass-court tournament.
Edmund will have the chance to win the tie when he takes on Lajovic, the Serbian number one in the absence of Novak Djokovic and Troicki, in what looks a very tough match to call.
Neither man is used to playing a winning role in Davis Cup, and Lajovic said: "It's going to be a match with a lot of nerves and we'll see how we are going to handle the pressure."
A Lajovic win would send the tie into a decisive fifth rubber between Ward and either Tipsarevic or Krajinovic.
PA
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