SAN DIEGO -- Less than five months after having back surgery, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray propelled Britain into the next round of the Davis Cup and earned some time off. Pittsburgh Pirates Gear . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. "Im still not quite there yet," said Murray, who beat Donald Young in straight sets on Friday. "Winning matches of that length and quality so soon after the surgery is good. And changing surfaces and stuff. Ive done 13 weeks consecutively without a break of training and playing tournaments to try and get myself back. I need a break now to take some days off after I get back home. I deserve it." Murray won his 18th straight Davis Cup singles match and Britain beat the Americans for the first time since 1935. Britain advanced to the World Group quarterfinals for the first time since 1986. It will face Italy, which defeated Argentina. The United States is relegated to the World Group playoff in September and will need to win to stay in the World Group. The last time Great Britain won in the United States was in 1903 in the World Group Challenge Final at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston. American captain Jim Courier was asked to put that in perspective. "It feels great to be alive in 2014," Courier said. "We certainly dont feel a lot of kinship to the last team that lost to the Brits on American soil since theyve been dead a long time. It has nothing to do with us. We come to play on our own terms." Murray split tiebreakers with Querrey in the first two sets, breezed through the third set in 29 minutes and won the match when Querrey returned a serve long. Murray leaned back and pumped both fists, and then swatted the ball into the stands on the opposite end of the court before joining his teammates in a celebration huddle. Later, he had a hot bath, an ice bath and other treatment on his back. Britain clinched the match at 3-1. The fourth singles match was cancelled. Murray reached matched point on Querreys serve in the eighth game of the fourth set before the American won three straight points to stay alive. After falling behind 15-30 in the ninth game, Murray got a new racket. He then double-faulted, giving Querrey break point. Murray won the next three points to clinch the match. In the first-set tiebreaker, Murray was down a mini-break before rallying to win when Querrey hit a drop volley into the net. "I tried to do a little too much with it," Querrey said "Every now and then you miss an easy one. It happened to be at a big moment." Querrey won the second-set tiebreaker on a forehand passing shot and then jumped for joy. Murray immediately rebounded by breaking Querrey twice to go up 4-0 in the third set. He broke Querrey again to win the set in a seventh game that went to deuce four times, clinching it when Querrey hit into the net. Murray said it was important to win the first set "because I felt like I was playing the better tennis for the most part of it. Then he started playing better at the end of the set. He probably played a better tiebreak than me as well. Just missed a couple of shots, like the volley on set point was a bad one, but he got himself into a great position. "If I had lost that it wouldve been tough after having served for it. Yeah, in these sorts of matches, first set can be crucial." Although Murray struggled on clay last year, he said he was surprised the Americans chose that surface for this match. He said the clay might have affected Querrey in his five-set loss to James Ward on Friday. "When we got here the court was pretty slippery and tough to move on," Murray said. "I would say for myself, one of my strengths is my movement on the court. I didnt know if that was something they had done intentionally or just the nature of putting down a temporary clay court. "Obviously it did have a bearing in the tie, you know, for Sam especially. I think his best surface is hard courts. He will have had all his best results on hard courts." Pittsburgh Pirates Store . -- Barry Bonds is all set to return to the San Francisco Giants. Custom Pittsburgh Pirates Jerseys . There will be no Down Under four-peat for Djokovic, as the eighth-seeded Swiss slugger Wawrinka outlasted the second seed 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 at Melbourne Parks Rod Laver Arena in yet another five-set thriller in their burgeoning rivalry. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/ . The Brewers finalized a US$36 million, three-year contract with free agent third baseman Aramis Ramirez on Wednesday, adding a much-needed bat to their lineup.Its no secret, when Ive been asked if I had to build a goaltender, what would it look like, the simplest reply I can offer is: Pekka Rinne. - 65 - unreal flexibility - elite lateral movement - great puckhandling - the Finnish relaxed but intense mental makeup - durability (can play 70 games in a season) - structure, but worries about stopping the puck by any means necessary - elite rebound control because he catches pucks - and this is why I believe Pekka and most Finnish goalies work to give themselves the edge There are a few reasons I am biased, one being I had the great fortune of playing with one of the most talented goaltenders Ive ever come across in Miikka Kiprusoff. Second, I had the opportunity to go to Finland three summers in a row and work with some of their goaltenders and the coaches involved in their development, and watch firsthand the philosophy and thought process behind what they believe to be important in the mechanics of goaltending. Its such an athletic position now. We know structure, patience, reads off the rush, every detail of goaltending is being worked on by every country, goaltender coach, and goaltender in todays world. Thats no secret. But after witnessing it firsthand, I understood the thought process behind a Finnish goaltender after seeing what was important to them during practice and development. When Miikka invited me over to Finland to work with him and his longtime goaltender coach Upi Ylonen, I jumped at the chance not only to work with Miikka in his summertime training regimen, but to see whats been ingrained in him and other Finnish goalies through their practice habits. In watching a lot of the movement drills early on, the emphasis certainly was on edge work, mechanics of moving in and out of your net, giving yourself a chance to make the save through angles and movement. But the single most important thing I learned about the thought process of Finnish goaltenders was rebound control. Every drill, every sequence, the focus was on limiting a second shot, no matter where it came from. The coaches were quite vocal and adamant that it was the goaltenders responsibility to nott have any second chances on them. Pittsburgh Pirates Shirts. That meant catching everything that came near you, regardless of puck placement, whether it was close to the ice, high glove or cross-body blocker. The message was loud and clear. Most Finnish goaltenders are known for their great glove hands, and now I know why it is stressed. Every drill was executed with no second shot in mind, their movement was worked on separately with the thought process on movement before the shot, giving yourself a chance to be set, then the reactionary play with the glove; to catch it and control the play. One training session on the ice was with Mikko and Saku Koivu as well as Lauri Korpikoski literally taking one-timer slapshots from just above the hash marks on Kiprusoff, Antero Niittymaki and Fredrik Norrena. The whole time, Upi was in the background yelling in Finnish to catch pucks and limit rebounds. I remember asking Kipper, what is this guy yelling about, and he told me he was mad because we werent catching enough pucks. As an NHL goalie at that time, I remember thinking they were just lucky to get in the way of the one-timers, let alone catch them and control where the puck placement would be. The whole week I was there, every time we worked with the goaltender coaches, there was always some form in the drill that was designed so that catching the puck was involved. So in todays games, when I watch Pekka Rinne, Tuukka Rask, Antti Niemi, Kari Lehtonen, Niklas Backstrom, Antti Raanta or Kari Ramo try and make a cross-body catch that most goalies would use their blocker, or a save where the puck is close to the ice, I will hear in my head that goalie coach screaming in Finnish to catch pucks. I often wonder the impact catching pucks has on a goalies save percentage, when there are limited rebounds to be had, there is a lot less second shots and chances against, but that is another discussion altogether. Although I have talked about my Finnish experience, the NHL is full of goalies who incorporate the mindset. Here are my top 5 goalies who catch pucks consistently: Rinne, Jonathan Quick, Rask, Carey Price and Marc-Andre Fleury. ' ' '