Neal Skupski said he and doubles partner Dan Evans refused to hit the panic button despite facing four match points in their must-win match against France in a thrilling Davis Cup tie on Sunday night.
With the tie poised at 1-1 following the singles, Great Britain’s place in the last eight in Malaga in November rested on Evans and Skupski against Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Evans recovered from three match points on his serve at 4-5 while Skupski had to defend a solitary match point serving at 5-6. The pair held firm to win 1-6, 7-6, 7-6.
Despite the nailbiting nature of the match, Skupski said: “There was no panic. We just went to the next point. I knew if we got through that game somehow the momentum was going to swing our way.”
Evans proved GB’s man of the hour after also recovering from a set down in the opening singles rubber to beat Arthur Fils in front of a 13,000-strong partisan crowd at the AO Arena in Manchester.
Afterwards, Evans said: “The singles is the singles and I feel comfortable on that court but the doubles was chaos. I just kept saying to Neal ‘we’ve got a chance, we’ve got a chance’ and we both kept going. We stuck together.
“Davis Cup is why I played tennis at the start. I remember watching the Birmingham ties, finishing late on a Sunday night. That was my first introduction to professional tennis really.
“So it’s emotional. You want to be with these guys in the finals. It’s an immensely proud moment for me and the team.”
