Emotional Murray applauds his team after Davis Cup triumph

Murray overcame some difficult moments in the first set to secure a 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 7-6 (7/4) triumph at the Emirates Arena and line up a World Group quarter-final home tie against France.

The 27-year-old had set Britain on the way by taking two sets inside 46 minutes against Donald Young on Friday afternoon but the drama was only just beginning.

Murray then watched team-mate James Ward come from two sets down to win an epic tussle with world No 20 Isner before his brother Jamie and Dom Ingol came back from a similar position against Mike and Bob Bryan, the best doubles team of all time, only to fall just short in another marathon tie.

And Murray was proud to have been part of an effort that repeated Britain’s win in San Diego at the same stage last year.

The former Wimbledon champion said: “The effort and attitude of everyone in the team was excellent. I feel we deserved to win because of that.

“Everyone fought extremely hard especially when we were behind in the matches, no-one gave up and everyone played every point extremely hard.

“It’s a big win. It means a lot to everyone, all the staff and the players.

“There’s a great synergy in the team and that builds the emotion and togetherness. It gives you that extra incentive to perform and fight for every single point.

“I was very emotional the whole weekend. I know the team extremely well, the players and the staff.

“I was proud of them as team-mates and also as friends and my brother of the way they performed and fought in this arena and under that much pressure. All of them did incredibly well. I was proud to be part of their team.”

Murray admitted he had felt the pressure a bit too much at the start of the final day’s play.

He fought off three break points after two double faults to tie the score at 4-4 and then saved three set points in his next service game, producing aces at crucial moments.

Big-serving Isner hit 12 aces before the tie-break but some excellent backhand slices gave Murray the advantage and a brilliant lob saw him break in the second set.

Murray stayed out of trouble in the third and his mental strength was again on show as he wrapped up the victory.

“I felt a little bit more pressure today to try to close it out and also the way John approached the match made it difficult,” he said.

“I knew James was extremely tired and it would be very tough ask for him to win that match after me. There is real pressure to help your team-mates out.

“He put in such a big effort on Friday that I wanted to finish the tie there and not have to make him go out there and try to win the last point.”

Ward won the first set of his dead rubber 7-5 against Young before pulling out early in the second set to make it a 3-2 win for Britain.

Ward, who flies to California from London today along with Murray, said: “My knee hurt so I pulled out and I’m playing on Tuesday in Indian Wells. So I need to get going and I probably wouldn’t have made my flight tonight.

“It was a dead rubber and I’m sure everyone understood the situation.”

Isner later took the blame for his country’s defeat.

“This one’s on me,” he said. “My team-mates may say otherwise but my loss on Friday put us in a huge hole. It’s so, so disappointing for me.

“Beating Andy in this atmosphere, I tried my best, but there are not many people can beat him out there.

“What happened on Friday in my match hurt us. It’s going to stick with me for a while. I feel like I let us down. It’s a terrible feeling.”

Britain will again be at home in the last eight on July 17-19 against France, who beat Germany 3-2 after winning the first three matches including singles triumphs for world top-20 players Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils.

Caroline Wozniacki won her first title of 2015 with victory at the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

The Dane had won just four WTA events since losing her No 1 ranking in 2012 but took her career total to 23 with a 4-6 6-2 6-1 victory over Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru.

The top seed could not find her rhythm in a rain-interrupted first set and an upset looked on the cards as Dulgheru moved ahead in her hunt for a first title since 2010.

But that seemed to spur Wozniacki into life and she cruised to the next two sets without conceding a break point as she claimed victory in an hour and 50 minutes.