Dan Evans ensured Great Britain’s quest to reach the Davis Cup knockout stage started strongly with a hard-fought victory in their opening tie against Finland, as Jack Draper was rested.
Evans, 34, won 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 against 703rd-ranked Eero Vasa to put the host nation 1-0 ahead in the best-of-three Group D tie in Manchester on Wednesday.
With US Open semi-finalist Draper not included, the late-blooming Billy Harris was handed a Davis Cup debut in the second match of the tie, knowing he could secure victory for Britain.
British men’s number one Draper sat out this opening tie following his exploits in reaching the last four in New York last week.
Draper, 22, arrived in Manchester on Tuesday lunchtime and, after watching him practise, British captain Leon Smith decided he needed longer to recover.
Draper could return for the ties against Argentina and Canada later this week.
Britain are aiming to top Group D in the four-nation round robin and secure a place in the Davis Cup Finals last eight in Malaga later this year.
As the post-Andy Murray era begins, Evans remains a reassuring presence for Britain in the men’s team event.
Evans has dropped to outside the world’s 150 in recent months but, in front of a three-quarters full Manchester Arena, demonstrated why he remains so important to Smith’s squad.
Those watching would have been forgiven for thinking Evans would breeze past the unheralded Vasa, who plies most of his trade far away from the Grand Slam tournaments on the bottom-rung Futures Tour.
However, the 27-year-old Vasa surprised the crowd – if not Evans – by playing well above his ranking.
Booming first serves of above 130mph were backed up by speedy second serves, while he made Evans ask questions from the baseline in patient rallies.
Evans, who reached the US Open third round, had to fight off two break points in the first game of the match before starting to take control and apply severe pressure.
A break point was saved by Vasa in the eighth game and Evans could not convert three set points on his opponent’s serve later in the set.
But his experience and nous told in the tie-break, playing with a touch more aggression to bring up four set points and pressure Vasa into a double fault on the third.
Once he had a firm foothold, Evans accelerated quickly in the second set and moved a double break ahead before serving out a slow-burning victory.
“It was a difficult match; he played great at the start. I knew he would come out and play aggressive,” said Evans.
“I found it tough for a long time to get the ball-striking and I started to play better in the second and better at the end.”
