Best-ever Australian Open campaign comes to a battling end for Team Bath’s Marcus Daniell after epic quarter-final
Marcus Daniell’s best-ever Grand Slam run came to a battling end on Wednesday as the Team Bath Tennis player and men’s doubles partner Dominic Inglot narrowly missed out on an Australian Open semi-final place.
Daniell and Inglot saved three match points on their way to winning a thrilling second-set tie-break 12-10 and taking their quarter-final against Austria’s Oliver Marach and Croatia’s Mate Pavic on the Margaret Court Arena the full distance.
There was nothing to choose between the pairs in the third set, with neither creating a break-point opportunity as it again went to a tie-breaker. However, it was the number seven seeds who eventually edged through 6-4 6-7 (10) 7-6 (5) after an epic match lasting nearly three hours.
Daniell – who was supported courtside throughout the tournament by Team Bath International High-Performance Academy coaches Dave Sammel and Ian MacDonald – will move up to a career-high world ranking of the mid-to-high 30s following his performances in Melbourne.
He and Inglot – who is in the GB Davis Cup team to face Spain next week alongside Team Bath’s Liam Broady – are also now in contention to play in the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in March.
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