Andy and Jamie Murray secure doubles triumph to cut Argentina's lead in Davis Cup semi-final

Great Britain staved off defeat and secured a potentially crucial lifeline in their Davis Cup semi-final clash against Argentina after Murray brothers Andy and Jamie fought to claim a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer in Saturday's (17 September) entertaining solitary doubles rubber.

Leon Smith's defending champions trailed 2-0 after day one at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow following the younger Murray's marathon five-hour defeat to Olympic final opponent Del Potro and Guido Pella's four-set defeat of Kyle Edmund.

They will now hope to turn the tie on its head during tomorrow's decisive reverse singles matches and secure a second consecutive final berth, although victory remains a tall order given that someone other than Andy will be pitted against Del Potro.

The Murrays made a blistering start to proceedings, breaking to love at the very first opportunity as a result of Mayer's lacklustre serve. They then held thanks to some particularly stellar and committed net play from Jamie before engineering another two break points.

Del Potro saved the first, but Andy was not to be denied thereafter with a blistering cross-court winner into the tramlines.

Argentina managed to momentarily stem the onslaught at 5-1 and even led 15-30 in game number seven. However, they were unable to sustain that brief flicker of momentum and dropped the opening set in a time of just 26 minutes.

The visitors opened set number two in more determined fashion, with an impressive hold to love from the powerful Del Potro, a somewhat surprising selection by captain Daniel Orsanic given yesterday's exertions, followed by a first break secured thanks to an uncharacteristically ugly service game from Andy Murray that featured two double faults.

The two teams exchanged games, the latter sealed by a controversial close-range volley from Jamie Murray, and Argentina reasserted their newfound authority to lead 4-1 before being narrowly denied another break on Andy's serve.

Mayer and Del Potro were handed a time violation and failed to take either of two initial set points before levelling the match on their own serve.

GB opened the third set with a hold to love and Del Potro saved two break points.

The tie then stayed on serve until the 2009 US Open winner broke with a successful backhand return down the line to put Argentina ahead 4-3 after Jamie Murray had initially resisted with a volley.

The hosts hit straight back, however, profiting from a shot into the net after seeing two of their own breakpoints fall by the wayside. They then secured a pivotal hold and restored their lead by thwarting Del Potro's serve with a backhand winner from Andy Murray.

Set number four was notably tense, with Jamie Murray seemingly bothered by a lingering neck problem early on.

There were no breaks until the 10th and final game, when a persistent Andy Murray beat Del Potro at close quarters to seal Great Britain's first point of the weekend.