By Tony Fairbairn
- After Dan Evans’ early singles defeat on day one, Great Britain completed a 3-1 victory in Colombia to survive a scare.
- Great Britain will now return to home territory to play the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals in September.
COTA, COLOMBIA – Great Britain overcame an early deficit to defeat Colombia 3-1 and qualify for the Davis Cup Finals in September.
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Colombia 1-3 Great Britain
Great Britain are into September’s Davis Cup Finals after a hard-fought victory on clay in Colombia. An intense atmosphere was produced in Cota as the British team remained resilient on their weakest surface to secure victory and a place in September’s finals despite a poor start to the weekend.
Rubber One: Nicolas Mejia def Dan Evans 6-2 2-6 6-4
That’s because Great Britain went 1-0 down on day one after an underwhelming performance from Dan Evans as he lost to world number 253 Nicolas Mejia. The Colombian was in fine form early on as he grinded out the rallies and forced Evans into early errors as he secured the early break for 2-0.
The Brit was struggling with the altitude as well as having to adapt to clay court tennis having started the season on hard courts. After a slow start, Evans gradually improved his level as the match went on as he had five break points to earn the break back. However the Colombian held firm and produced some consistent shots from the baseline to hold for a 4-1 lead. In the end it was Evans who faltered again as he cheaply conceded the first set with Mejia breaking to finish the first set 6-2.
Evans’ world-class quality did show in the second set as he found his rhythm on return with the Brit creating five break points in the second set. Despite Mejia continuing to extend the rallies, Evans sealed the double break to take a 4-1 lead. That was Evans needed as he was barely threatened on serve as he sealed the second set 6-2, levelling the match at one set all.
The final set was a war of attrition as both players brought their best tennis with long rallies producing a wide range of shot-making. In the opening game, Evans failed to break after having four break points while Mejia couldn’t convert two break points in the eighth game as the match was deadlocked.
However it was Evans who would break under pressure and Mejia pounced as he converted his second match point to break in the tenth game, sealing the biggest victory of his tennis career. Not the ideal start to the weekend for Leon Smith’s men.
Rubber Two: Cameron Norrie def Nicolas Barrientos 6-2 7-5
Luckily for Great Britain, they had Cameron Norrie to rely on throughout the weekend and his clay-court IQ helped the visitors level the tie. A straight sets win over Nicolas Barrientos saw the British team level with Norrie producing a clinical opening set performance. The world number 11 was simply too good as his mix of variety and power saw him convert both of his break points.
After breaking with consistent returning in the first and seventh games, Norrie closed out the opening set to love to silence the Colombian crowd and take the opening set in 27 minutes. Barrientos slowly improved his level in the second set as he responded to being broken in the opening game by breaking straight back to level the set at 1-1.
Then the Colombian really took the match to Norrie, producing some aggressive returning in front of a lively atmosphere as he created five break points. However the Brit produced bold tennis under pressure to save them which resulted in the Brit breaking in the eleventh game to seal the crucial break.
Norrie comfortably served out the match to level the tie for Great Britain after day one heading into the crucial second day doubles.
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Rubber Three: Dan Evans/Neal Skupski def Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah 6-4 6-4
Day two started with the most crucial match of the tie as Evans returned to team up with Neal Skupski as they faced former Grand Slam champions and clay-court specialists Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Evans has often criticised in the past for not playing enough doubles for his country and now was his time to show why he should be playing more often.
The Brit made his point known as some great returning sealed the break in the opening game against the Colombians. Skupski was also in good form having reached world number one late last year and his efficient serving helped the Brits to a comfortable opening set. As they did in the opening set, the British duo remained dominant on return as they broke in the opening game of the second set.
They could have easily gone up a double break as well as they had two break points saved in the third game of the second set. Despite having two match points saved, Evans and Skupski closed out a convincing win against high-quality opposition to put Great Britain on the brink of victory.
Rubber Four: Cameron Norrie def Nicolas Mejia 6-4 6-4
Victory was secured in the fourth rubber as the two number ones Norrie and Mejia did battle. After the first seven games went with serve rather comfortably, it was Norrie who dealt the first blow by breaking in the seventh game. An unfazed Mejia broke immediately back in the eighth game after converting his fourth break point of the set, levelling the score at 4-4.
Norrie remained calm and collected as he broke back to serve for the opening set, which he did to love to take the opening set 6-4. After a gruelling start to the second set, it was Norrie who grinded out the critical break of serve, converting his third break point of the set for a 3-2 lead.
Mejia continued to be resilient on serve and tried to force the errors from Norrie but to no end result. In the end Norrie sealed Britain’s place in the Davis Cup Finals with a hold to love as the British team celebrated their win in style.
After the match captain Leon Smith felt immense pride about the victory and admitted the tie was a difficult one to prepare for.
“Feelings are one of immense pride for what the boys have done, and the support team,” Smith told the Davis Cup website.
“Everyone’s committed a lot of time to this, but hats off to the players. They came down to Colombia, most straight from Melbourne, came earlier than we’d ever normally do for Davis Cup, which is a big commitment from them. But we did that to prepare best for what happened these past two days and it’s definitely paid off.
“There’s a lot of work that the players have done to be able to adapt in a short space of time, and they went out and they fought really hard… It needed a lot of grit and determination. The important thing is we got a win, which gives us a chance to keep being successful this year. Really looking forward to September now.”
The win now means Britain will return to a home venue to compete in the group stages with the draw set to take place at some time before April.
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