‘Nothing better’ for Draper as Britain beat Australia to begin Davis Cup marketing campaign
Draper’s run to the fourth spherical of the US Open earned him not only a second Great Britain call-up however a primary look, with Smith selecting him forward of his top-ranked participant Cameron Norrie and former world primary Andy Murray.
The 21-year-old totally justified his captain’s religion, thrilling a 9,000-strong crowd on the AO Arena by breaking Thanasi Kokkinakis when he served for the match then coming from 4-2 down within the deciding tie-break to win 6-7 (6) 6-3 7-6 (4) after two hours and 52 minutes.
Evans then took to the court docket towards world quantity 12 Alex De Minaur, the highest-ranked participant within the four-team group.
De Minaur has had a superb summer time however Evans can also be in kind having received the most important title of his profession in Washington after which reaching the third spherical of the US Open the place he took a set off Carlos Alcaraz. And he prolonged his tour-level successful file towards De Minaur to 3-0, catching the Australian chilly after which recovering from shedding the second set to guide 4-1 within the decider.
There had been some late nerves as De Minaur responded with two video games in a row however Evans received his ways spot on to finish a 6-1 2-6 6-4 victory.
That gave Britain an unassailable lead towards final 12 months’s runners-up, with a top-two spot within the group wanted to safe progress to the quarter-finals and with matches towards Switzerland and France nonetheless to return this week.
After drilling a ultimate backhand winner down the road, Draper pretended to hit the bullseye, a reference to the aggressive video games of darts which were holding the crew busy away from the court docket.
Speaking on court docket, he mentioned: “There’s nothing better. It was a real battle, massive crowd in here. It’s amazing to play my first Davis Cup tie in the UK in this sort of arena. I’m just so happy to be here and grateful Leon trusted me and put me out here today.”
For most of his lengthy tenure, Smith’s crew, primarily based round Murray, nearly picked itself. Greater choices have left him with tougher choices and he was criticised for his choice on the identical stage final 12 months, when Britain made an early exit.
There may have been nice satisfaction for the Scot, subsequently, within the efficiency of Draper, who has been stored off court docket for a lot of the season by a string of irritating accidents however carried the boldness of his run in New York into this conflict towards one other 6ft 4in heavyweight in Kokkinakis.
There was little or no to decide on between them within the tightest of first units, with Kokkinakis saving a set level at 4-5 after which clinching his second set level within the tie-break.
Draper got here up with the right response, breaking Kokkinakis instantly to begin the second set and in ascendancy initially of the decider. He couldn’t get the break, although, and was in massive bother when he dropped serve at 4-4 earlier than staging a rousing comeback.
Of his choice, Draper mentioned: “Leon told me a couple of days ago. He said he wanted me to be out there and that he believed in me. I prepared well, trained well and only really started thinking about it an hour before I played, when the nerves started coming in.
“I knew I’d played some tough matches at the US Open and I felt really good about my tennis. That helped the nerves a lot. When I got out there with the home crowd and all those people supporting me, it felt amazing. I haven’t played too many great matches this season but I think that was one of them.”
Like Draper, 27-year-old Kokkinakis has been badly affected by accidents by means of his profession, whereas he has had bother closing out matches, together with in a close to six-hour epic towards Murray on the Australian Open in January that completed after 4am.
He was left cursing the same sample right here, saying: “I let my nerves get to me a little bit. Hats off to him, he played some good tennis when he needed to but it’s definitely a tough one, it stings for sure.”