Davis Cup: Andy Murray hits back after James Ward beaten to level quarter-final tie with France

Gilles Simon won the contest in straight sets

Andy Murray celebrates with captain Leon Smith after winning his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during Day One of the World Group Quarter Final Davis Cup (GETTY IMAGES)

An estimated 400,000 French people live in London and until Andy Murray got on court here it seemed that most of them had snapped up tickets for this Davis Cup quarter-final between Britain and France.

With the tricolores flying and cries of “Allez les Bleus!” ringing around the grounds, Gilles Simon gave the visiting team the perfect start by beating James Ward 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 before a fired-up Murray ignited the home supporters with a high-energy 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

With the tie perfectly poised at 1-1, today’s doubles may well prove decisive. Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot are due to take on Nicolas Mahut and Richard Gasquet, but the team captains can change their nominations up to an hour before the start.

Leon Smith, Great Britain’s captain, may well be tempted to bring Andy Murray into the line-up alongside his brother, Jamie, particularly as Inglot has not played much tennis lately because of a knee injury, but it would be asking much of the world No 3 to play three best-of-five-set matches in as many days, particularly after such a demanding summer. The reverse singles are tomorrow, with Andy Murray set to face Simon before Ward plays Tsonga.

At the end of Friday’s play Smith was giving nothing away, saying he would discuss the doubles line-up with his team, though Andy Murray indicated that he could just be up for the challenge. “I always want to play, but I’ve also had a long few months as well,” he said. “It’s about doing what’s best for us to try to win the tie. I also need to try to be fresh for Sunday as well. But we’ll chat about it and see and hopefully I can play.”

Britain, who last made the semi-finals in 1981, reached this stage by beating the United States in front of a raucous indoor crowd in Glasgow in March. On that occasion there had been no need to invite the crowd in the city’s East End to “throw off the shackles, enter the spirit of the event and wear something patriotic, Union Jacks from head to toe”, as the Queen’s Club website has been encouraging home supporters to do here.

There was little evidence of any shackles being thrown off by British supporters during the first match as the home fans were regularly out-shouted by a sizeable French contingent in the sell-out 6,900 crowd, though Ward admitted later: “It’s not as though I gave the crowd much to shout about.”

Murray, in contrast, can bring the public to life with the sheer brilliance of his tennis and the day’s second singles rubber was played in a very different atmosphere. The volume from the home fans rose in the first set and reached a peak when Tsonga served at 5-6.

Murray turned up the pressure with some thunderous returns and took the set with a crunching forehand to the Frenchman’s feet.

After an early exchange of breaks, the second set went to a tiebreak. It was a desperately tight affair in which both men had three set points, although none were on their own serve. At 10-11, however, Tsonga hit a huge first serve which Murray blocked deep to the baseline, after which the Frenchman hit a forehand long.

Tsonga had treatment for what appeared to be a neck problem at the end of the second set and promptly double-faulted on break point in the opening game of the third.

Murray broke again in the fifth game and in serving out for the win hit the shot of the day when he chased down a Tsonga smash and then cracked a forehand winner down the line.

The Scot encouraged the crowd to pump up the volume even further and eventually clinched victory when Tsonga put a backhand return in the net.

Earlier in the day Ward’s fortunes had dipped from the moment he put a forehand in the net on break point in Simon’s opening service game. It was to be the Briton’s only break point of the match.

James Ward during the Davis Cup tie with France (GETTY IMAGES)

In a gusting wind both men played with great caution, especially in the early stages. Simon, who reached the semi-finals of the Aegon Championships here last month and then the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, is a relentlessly consistent ball striker and all too often he was able to wear Ward down in the rallies.

Single breaks of serve gave the world No11 the first two sets and he ran away with the third after taking a 4-0 lead.

“He didn’t miss too many balls,” Ward said. “I made a few more mistakes than him. I thought we both played pretty well in the first couple of sets considering the conditions. In the third set he was a lot better than me.”