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 2-1 win over Finland.
During the early days of Andy Murray’s storied career, there were lengthy periods when he was the only British man ranked inside the top 200. He was charged with carrying the burden of British tennis in team competitions almost single-handed and his underperformance or unavailability usually meant certain defeat.
The first Davis Cup tie since Murray’s retirement provided a solid demonstration of the greater competitive depth Great Britain has built up as the 29-year-old Harris led his team to a win.
In the doubles, Dan Evans and Neal Skupski lost 7-6 (4), 7-5 to Harri Heliövaara and Otto Virtanen, a defeat that could be significant if Great Britain are tied with another team at the end of the week.
A year after his brilliant performances spearheaded Great Britain into the quarter-finals, Evans withstood a tough opening set against Eero Vasa, who played several levels above his modest ranking of No 703, before winning 7-6 (3), 6-2. In his first Davis Cup appearance, Harris maintained his composure under mounting pressure to win the tie with a stellar 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Virtanen.
The United States made light of the absence of several players to begin their Davis Cup Finals group stage campaign with victory over Chile.
Reilly Opelka and Brandon Nakashima both came through lengthy three-set battles to give their team a winning lead in the Group C opener in Zhuhai, China. The Olympic doubles silver-medallists, Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek, then beat Matias Soto and Tomas Barrios Vera to wrap up a 3-0 victory.
The defending champions, Italy, were without Jannik Sinner but made a positive start, beating Brazil 2-1 in their opening Group A tie. Matteo Berrettini beat João Fonseca 6-1 7-6 (5) before Matteo Arnaldi outlasted Thiago Monteiro 7-5 6-7 (4) 7-6 (5) in a match lasting three hours and 39 minutes. Brazil's Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo won the doubles rubber in Bologna.
In Valenica, Carlos Alcaraz was given a scare against the Czech Republic's Tomas Machac, losing the first set tiebreak before winning the second set 6-1, at which point Machac was forced to retire to hand Spain an unassailable 2-0 lead in Group B. Roberto Bautista-Agut had earlier beaten Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (1) 6-4. Alcaraz returned in the doubles, winning alongside Marcel Granollers. Reuters
Five days after Draper played against Jannik Sinner in his first grand slam semi-final at the US Open, the British No 1 faced a difficult turnaround. After spending less than two days at home in London, he arrived in Manchester on Tuesday morning and he had his first training session later that day. Given his extensive injury history, Draper needs to manage his body carefully and so he spent the first day of competition supporting from the team bench.
In addition to Murray’s and Draper’s absence, Cameron Norrie, the British No 2, has been sidelined by an arm injury since the Olympic Games. With Evans’ ranking plummeting to No 178 despite an extremely positive third round run at the US Open, Harris, the world No 101, was thrust into this Davis Cup as his team’s top player.
He followed up Evans’s victory with an impressive performance of his own. Virtanen sits just nine spots beneath him in the rankings and, with his own massive serve, played a starring role in Finland’s surprise Davis Cup semi-final run last year.
Harris is a straightforward player who uses his big serve and forehand to impose himself on opponents and keep points short. After establishing a 6-4, 4-2 lead, Harris played a sloppy service game and found himself in a tense tussle. He maintained his composure and closed out one of the biggest wins of his flourishing career.
“I think that’s about one of the best debuts you’ll have seen. It was that good,” said Leon Smith, the British captain. “It was always going to be tough playing No 1 with Jack and Cam and people not around,” said Harris. “I went out and played a good match so I’m pleased with it.”
Over the past year Harris has enjoyed a surprise breakout run spearheaded by an immense grass-court summer, which included his first ATP semi-final in Eastbourne and an ATP 500 quarter-final at Queen’s. 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 risen rapidly, putting himself on the verge of the top 100. Now he has also represented his country, and won, at the highest level.
“Three years ago I was probably ranked about 600 so I had no chance of getting near the team,” he said. “But I’ve been improving each year since then and feel like I was ready to step into the team once I got called up. It’s a very proud moment to represent my country and I’m happy I put in a good performance.”
Despite how well they coped without him, Draper’s presence will probably be key to Great Britain’s hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals in Málaga. The format remains unchanged from last year, with the top two teams in each of the four groups in Manchester, Bologna, Valencia and Zhuhai qualifying for the knockout stage. “Hopefully he’s available to be an option for Friday,” said Smith. “Pretty sure he will be. I think it was just a little bit too quick a turnaround in my eyes.”
On Friday, Great Britain will face an Argentina team that boasts two top-32 singles players in Sebastián Báez and Francisco Cerúndolo. Canada, the 2022 champions, will have two former top-10 players in Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov to choose from in Sunday’s tie.
