Great Britain gave an impressive demonstration of their singles depth in their opening Davis Cup group stage tie in Manchester as the newcomer Billy Harris led a team lacking Jack Draper to a 2-0 win over Finland.
A year after his brilliant performances spearheaded Great Britain’s advance to the quarter-finals, Dan Evans withstood a tough opening set against Eero Vasa, who played several levels above his modest ranking of No 703 before Evans won 7-6 (3), 6-2. In his first ever Davis Cup appearance at the age of 29, Harris maintained his composure under mounting pressure to close out the tie with a stellar 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over Otto Virtanen.
Five days after Draper faced Jannik Sinner in his first ever grand slam semi-final at the US Open, the lingering question around this Great Britain team was what role the British No 1 would play in Manchester. After spending less than two days at home in London, Draper arrived here on Tuesday morning and had his first training session later the same day but the first tie came too soon.
This is Great Britain’s first Davis Cup since Andy Murray’s retirement at the Olympic Games and Cameron Norrie, the British No 2, has been sidelined since he withdrew from Paris because of an arm injury. With Evans’s ranking plummeting to No 178 despite a positive run to the third round at the US Open, Harris, ranked 101, was thrust into his maiden Davis Cup appearance as his team’s top player.
It would have been reasonable to expect a straightforward first match for Evans against Vasa, whose career-high ranking is just 601, but the 27-year-old stepped on to the court armed with a massive serve and the determination to attack freely with his forehand. After a tight opening set, though, Evans eased through the second.
Harris followed up Evans’s victory with a brilliant performance of his own. Virtanen sits just nine ranking spots beneath him and the big server played a starring role in Finland’s surprise Davis Cup semi-final run last year.
After establishing a 6-4, 4-2 lead by serving well and constantly looking to take the first strike with his forehand, Harris played a sloppy service game and found himself in a tussle to determine the second set. He maintained his composure to the end and closed out one of the biggest wins of his flourishing career.
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Over the past year, Harris has enjoyed an incredible breakout run. Having spent his entire career competing on the lower levels of the professional circuit with a career-high ranking of No 290 until last October, he has rapidly risen up the rankings, putting himself on the verge of breaking into the top 100. Now he has represented his country, and won, at the highest level.
Source: theguardian.com
