Italy bounce back to defeat Great Britain in Davis Cup quarter-final

Andy Murray hits a return during his Davis Cup defeat to Fabio Fognini. Photograph: Matteo Ciambelli/Sipa/REX

Great Britain came tantalisingly close to reaching their first Davis Cupsemi-final in 33 years. Italy are in their first semi-final since 1998. Yet holding those bare bones of this gripping tie together were the interlocked threads of passion and national pride that make the competition special.

If it has lost some of its lustre over the decades, swamped by the glamour of the grand slams, all the evidence here over the past three days suggests that there is no shortage of commitment to the tournament conceived 115 years ago by students at Harvard University looking for an excuse to challenge the British at anything to do with a ball and which has spread its reach to 122 nations.

Andy Murray and James Ward each lost in straight sets to clay-courters of proven pedigree, Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi, respectively. Neither loser could complain, nor should any of the 700 travelling fans who went cheer-for-boo with the 4,300 Italians who shared the temporary court clinging to the Bay of Naples on a day of fleeting showers and warm sunshine.

As absurd as it is to contemplate, the team captain, Leon Smith, and his tight-knit unit might have to campaign in the future without the services of their best player since Fred Perry, who guided Great Britain to victory in 1936. It is a thought in passing but a telling one: while he has declined to share his thoughts on Scottish independence, if the vote in September is for a cleaving of the union then Dunblane's Surrey-domiciled hero would be forced to choose between the country of his birth and his friends in the south. Smith, a Scot, said the issue of split loyalties had been no more than, "banter in the locker room", but added it might have to be addressed at some point.

Such notions were a long way from his mind, of course, after he had left everything on court against Fognini, who levelled the tie at 2-2, preparing the way for Seppi's 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ward in the deciding rubber.

"I always enjoy playing Davis Cup and my record would suggest that," Murray said. "I won 19 singles matches in a row until today. I'm disappointed not to keep that going. I'll think about next year's Davis Cup when we're finished in the competition this year."

He did not expect that moment to arrive so suddenly and was courtside in voluble support of Ward all the way to the end, but the Londoner was always a long-shot to beat Seppi, 127 places ahead of him in the rankings.

Earlier, Fognini had cruised over his favourite surface like a demented Samurai, all sweating bandana and flowing black locks, and tormented Murray for much of the two hours and 19 minutes their tense contest lasted. There could be no denying that the Italian – who has won three clay titles and reached the final of two others since Wimbledon – deserved his 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win, only his third success against a top 10 opponent (after Tomas Berdych and Richard Gasquet).

Fognini struck his forehand fiercely and heavily outscored Murray, 103 points to 78, allowing the world No8 just one proper glimpse of getting back into the match after dropping serve in the opening game.

Much is made of Murray's susceptibility on clay but he spent his formative teenage years on it in Spain and, although Nikolay Davydenko is his only top 10 victim on the draining dirt, the Scot is not exactly an easy mark.

He did not play badly here, neither did he reach the heights of his blinding finish against Seppi on Friday, a performance which suggested he was returning to near his best after a low-key comeback from back surgery in September, then the split with his coach Ivan Lendl.

"One of the things you can normally bank on with him [Fognini] is that he will play a few loose games, lose concentration for a little bit, and he didn't do that today – so credit to him," Murray said. "There were parts of the match I would have liked to play better, specifically that middle part of the second set. I missed a return on one of the break points."

It was a typically boisterous tie from day one, reaching a crescendo on Sunday. It was a tough crowd: they even booed Murray when he showed Fognini the new ball, and he said he heard one fan persistently shouting out "loser", although it did not bother him.

"It was pretty much from the first service game, every time I was bouncing the ball. It's part of Davis Cup. You see some of the stuff footballers have to put up with from fans. You just have to deal with it. It's something we're not used to the rest of the year, because tennis is so polite, I guess. The atmosphere was absolutely fine. I've definitely played in worse than that. Their captain was speaking when I threw the ball up in the first set, so I just asked if he could stop doing that because it's happened in every single match so far."

There was an air of anarchy about proceedings. Fognini, a beguiling mix of passion and petulance, flung his water bottle away as his captain Corrado Barazzutti counselled him in the first set. While Murray was waiting to serve at the start of the eighth game of the third, Fognini was still in his chair, vomiting into his towel. The end came quickly. Murray saved two of three match points then netted a tired forehand from the baseline.

It would be harsh to describe Ward's match against Seppi as an afterthought but, once the Italian hit a rhythm, that is what it became. Seppi converted seven of 16 break chances, four of them in a wild first set, Ward took four of his six chances