Andy Murray faces an Olympic final re-match with Juan Martin del Potro which could all but decide the outcome of this weekend’s Davis Cup semi-final in the opening rubber.
The British number one came through that hard fought clash in four sets in Rio against the Argentinian who is resurgent after a year out following wrist surgery and will be favourite to do so again at The Emirates Arena.
He consequently fully expects to be pushed to the limit again by an opponent for whom his respect was obvious as they embraced at the end of that encounter.
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“We obviously had a great battle in Rio,” said Murray.
“Four hours, lots of ups and downs, a lot of momentum shifts, it was mentally and physically a very draining match. Both of us were pretty tired afterwards and emotional. That showed in how we were right after the final point, but it will be another intense atmosphere here and I'm looking forward to it.”
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Their opening day meeting was decreed by Davis Cup protocols after the choice of players for the opening day was made since, despite Daniel Orsanic, Argentina’s captain, insisting that the former world number four and 2010 US Open champion is his team’s best player, del Potro’s world ranking remains well below that of both Guido Pella, ranked 49 and Federico Delbonis, ranked 41.
Orsanic could have postponed the clash of the two Grand Slam champions until Sunday by selecting Leonardo Mayer for the opening day singles since he, like del Potro, has a false looking ranking, currently 114 having been as high as 21st little more than a year ago, but said that had not been a consideration for him
His choice of Pella for the second match means the unusual situation of Argentina’s official number one being fit to play but not selected for the singles. Delbonis is instead set to line up with Mayer against the Murray brothers in Saturday’s doubles with Orsanic explaining that he had opted for horses for courses.
“I think each of them are capable of beating (Kyle) Edmund but we chose Guido,” he said bullishly.
“He adapted really well to the surface and is in good form to face that second match.”
Leon Smith, the GB captain, also overturned the rankings in rewarding world number 55 Edmund for his superb performance in winning both singles after Andy Murray opted out of the quarter-final in Serbia, a match world no. 53 Dan Evans also missed through injury.
“It’s a difficult choice because Kyle and Dan are both playing great tennis, they are pretty much neck a neck in the rankings,” Smith acknowledged.
“It was not a question of picking one and not the other, it was a question of looking how we go across the three days which was important.”
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