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Koepka withdraws from Presidents Cup

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Fewer CHOICES: First Hospital is ending inpatient detox/rehab program

<p>MADRID (AP) &#8212; Andy Murray had been in a similar position before, struggling and needing a big comeback to pull off an important victory.</p><p>And like he&#8217;s done so many times in his career, he again came through with a big rally, this time to lead Britain to a victory over the Netherlands in his return to the Davis Cup.</p><p>Murray defeated Tallon Griekspoor 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday after trailing 4-1 in the third set and 4-1 in the decisive tiebreaker, giving his team a 1-0 lead in the Group E series in the new Davis Cup Finals.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve found a way to win matches many times in my career when I&#8217;ve not been playing well,&#8221; Murray said. &#8220;You can draw on that a little bit. I came up with some really good defensive shots at the end of the tiebreak and found a way to win.&#8221;</p><p>Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal also led their nations to victory, with Serbia defeating Japan and Spain beating defending champion Croatia.</p><p>Murray had not played in the Davis Cup since 2016, when Britain lost to Argentina in the semifinals. In October, the three-time Grand Slam champion won his first title since undergoing hip surgery in January.</p><p>&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t feeling in the best shape coming in, and it showed a little bit in the match,&#8221; Murray said. &#8220;It is about finding a way to win, and I did that today. And I&#8217;m proud of myself because it would have been easy to have lost that.&#8221;</p><p>Murray acknowledged he is still struggling with his fitness.</p><p>&#8220;The weight and things like that, that&#8217;s my fault,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never had that in my career before. &#8230; I&#8217;ll make sure when I do have breaks, I&#8217;m more careful with what I&#8217;m eating and, you know, look at that. If you&#8217;re weighing four or five kilos more than you&#8217;re used to, that is probably going to affect how you feel moving around the court.&#8221;</p><p>The Dutch evened the score to 1-1 when Robin Haase beat Daniel Evans 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the second singles match, but Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski sealed the victory for Britain by defeating Wesley Koolhof and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the doubles match.</p><p>In the revamped Davis Cup format, teams play two singles and a doubles match, with the group winners advancing to the knockout stage along with the two best second-place finishers in the six groups.</p><p>The result eliminated the Netherlands, which lost 2-1 to Kazakhstan on Tuesday.</p><p><strong>Spain cruises </strong></p><p>Nadal helped Spain clinch victory over Croatia with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Borna Gojo, securing the hosts first place in Group B and a place in the quarterfinals.</p><p>It was the 26th straight Davis Cup singles victory for the top-ranked Nadal.</p><p>Roberto Bautista-Agut earlier had comfortably beaten Nikola Mektic 6-1, 6-3.</p><p>Spain opened with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Russia on Tuesday.</p><p>Croatia was eliminated with the loss.</p><p><strong>Djokovic leads Serbia</strong></p><p>While Murray struggled to beat the 179th-ranked Griekspoor, Djokovic cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over 73rd-ranked Yoshihito Nishioka, giving Serbia a 2-0 victory over Japan in Group A.</p><p>It was the 13th straight Davis Cup singles victory for Djokovic, who broke Nishioka&#8217;s serve three times in the first set and twice in the second at the Caja M&#225;gica.</p><p>Filip Krajinovic had defeated Yuichi Sugita 6-2, 6-4 in the first match.</p><p>The winner of Thursday&#8217;s series between Serbia and top-ranked France will guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s probably one of the biggest challenges that we can have in this competition,&#8221; said Djokovic, who hadn&#8217;t played in the Davis Cup since 2017. &#8220;Playing against France, one of the most successful nations in Davis Cup, and definitely one of the strongest teams.&#8221;</p><p>Japan, which lost to France 2-1 on Tuesday, has no chance of advancing.</p><p><strong>Record tiebreaker</strong></p><p>Argentina routed Chile 3-0 on Tuesday but lost to Germany by the same score on Wednesday after a doubles match that set the record for the longest Davis Cup tiebreaker.</p><p>Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Guido Pella 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Jan-Lennard Struff defeated Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 7-6 (8), then Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies edged M&#225;ximo Gonz&#225;lez and Leonardo Mayer 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (18) in a match that lasted 3 hours, 18 minutes.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Great Britain's Andy Murray serves during the Davis Cup tennis match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_124012299-c0c9b5d5ff974a8faf7539785868d634.jpg</photo0><caption0>Great Britain's Andy Murray serves during the Davis Cup tennis match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_124012299-7b8fe8a70fc44dd09ed01f82064423de.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Great Britain's Andy Murray falls down during the Davis Cup tennis match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_124012299-7b8fe8a70fc44dd09ed01f82064423de.jpg</photo1><caption1>Great Britain's Andy Murray falls down during the Davis Cup tennis match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_124012299-13715c5e5c22434a9f8826d97680b743.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka during their Davis Cup tennis match in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_124012299-13715c5e5c22434a9f8826d97680b743.jpg</photo2><caption2>Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka during their Davis Cup tennis match in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tales Azzoni</p><p>AP Sports Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

Andy Murray wins in his return to the Davis Cup