Bulldog spirit prevails

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski dug deep into their reserves of bulldog spirit to keep Britain's Davis Cup hopes alive last nightThe battling Brits carved out a superb doubles victory over American pair Todd Martin and Alex O'Brien in another five-set thriller which sent their World Group first round roller-coaster careering into a third day. Their 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 victory recaptured vital momentum for the vital reverse singles today.

Henman had been almost reduced to tears on Friday by his singles defeat by Jim Courier. Rusedski was devastated to the point of depression after his straight sets annihilation by Martin.

But all that was forgotten in a sea of hugs and high-fives as Britain entertained the prospect of retrieving a 2-0 Davis Cup deficit for the first time in 69 years. The Americans had begun where they had left off the evening before when Martin had humbled Rusedski. The 6ft 6in Martin crashed down an ace with the first serve of the match and you could almost hear the sceptics murmuring "Here we go again". In the seventh game, Great Britain should have broken the service of O'Brien. The Brits, however, squandered four break points and when the Americans finally clinched the game, US coach Tom Gullikson shook each of his players by the hand in salute of their courage. The next game saw Henman, who had won the Battersea doubles with Rusedski back in February, repeat his serving errors of the day before with the first double fault of the match. He followed it up with a slack volley into the net and the service break which resulted handed the Americans the perfect opportunity to take the first set 6-3. But while you might accuse Henman and Rusedski of infuriating fluctuations of form you could never say they lacked heart. Predictably, it was the O'Brien serve which proved fallible in the 12th game - a flurry of rasping returns from both Brits earning two break points. They took the second when a Rusedski top-spin return was netted by O'Brien and charged into a 3-0 lead in the third set, breaking the formidable Martin serve in the second game in the process. From there the Rusedski serve, in particular, was a potent weapon. He proved as much by winning another thundering service game to love to clinch the set when O'Brien could only net his return. Henman crashed down three consecutive aces to win the fourth game of the fourth set. The set went with serve, even though Rusedski's rapier serving and Henman's athletic volleying always seemed more likely to effect the breakthrough. But once you get to a tie-break anything can happen - and once again we were served another gut-wrenching, nail-biting, edge-of- your-seat cameo of sporting drama. Unfortunately, this time it was the Brits who cracked, Henman netting a backhand volley to give the Americans two set points, which they eventually took with a sweeping O'Brien forehand. All square and into a fifth set - and the crowd sounded genuinely hoarse with the fervour of their support. Martin's telescopic arms could not deal with the ferocity of Rusedski's forehand in the second game. It secured a crucial break, underlined by a brave Henman service to give Britain a 3-0 lead. With the score 5-3 with Rusedski, the man with the fastest serve in the world, served for the match.

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