Few people across London enjoyed a more soothing night’s sleep than Leon Smith on Saturday. After an ideal first day for his team in their Davis Cup qualifier against Ecuador, where his singles players handled business efficiently, the Great Britain captain had the luxury of calling upon one member of each of the two best doubles pairs in the world to close out the tie.
In just their second match as partners rather than rivals the world No 1, Henry Patten, and Neal Skupski, the US Open champion a week ago, played their roles to perfection as they convincingly sealed their place in the Davis Cup Final 8 with a clinical 6-3, 6-4 victory against Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo, securing for Great Britain an unassailable 3-0 lead. Harry Wendelken, the British No 7, closed out the tie with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Angel Veliz in the dead rubber.
