Great Britain dealt Davis Cup blow as Jack Draper unable to rescue Argentina tie

Jack Draper was unable to seek out his US Open type as Britain crashed to defeat in opposition to Argentina within the Davis Cup.

Per week after shedding to Jannik Sinner within the semi-finals in New York, Draper led his nation for the primary time however was crushed 7-6 (4), 7-5 by Francisco Cerundolo in Manchester.

Coupled with Dan Evans’s 6-2, 7-5 loss to Tomas Martin Etcheverry, it meant Argentina wrapped up victory forward of the doubles rubber and dealt an enormous blow to Britain’s possibilities of reaching the “Remaining Eight” occasion in Malaga in November.

Leon Smith’s squad, who beat Finland on Wednesday, would have progressed with two wins from their opening two ties. As a substitute, they’re prone to must beat Canada on Sunday in what might be a nerve-shredding Group D contest.

Draper arrived in Manchester on Tuesday and was rested for the victory over Finland the next day, with Evans and debutant Billy Harris claiming singles wins.

This tie was a step up in school, although, and Draper, who understandably seemed a little bit jaded, couldn’t handle to outmuscle the spectacular Cerundolo, ranked 11 locations beneath the British No 1 at world No 31.

There was no signal of the strapping on his proper thigh that Draper had worn because the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows however a break for Cerundolo within the third sport put him on the again foot.

Draper broke again to make it 5-5, to the delight of the vast majority of the 9,000-strong crowd, which included Liverpool’s Argentina worldwide Alexis Mac Allister.

However Cerundolo led all through the tie-break and Draper simply couldn’t discover a significant benefit within the second set, first being pegged again immediately after an early break after which lacking three break factors at 4-4.

Cerundolo didn’t make the identical mistake when he introduced up three match factors at 6-5, changing the primary after which falling to the courtroom in delight.

Earlier, Evans, who was given the nod over Harris as No 2, was additionally unable to take his probabilities in opposition to the constant Etcheverry.

It has been a tough yr for Evans, whose rating has slipped to 178, and he might solely boast one win in 2024 over a participant ranked larger than world No 34 Etcheverry.

Had Evans managed to transform any of 4 break factors in an extended fourth sport, issues might need performed out in a different way.

However his opponent, 9 years youthful and eight inches taller, surged forward with 5 video games in a row and the essential break of a good second set got here at 5-5.

Evans had three extra alternatives to interrupt in a rollercoaster closing sport that additionally noticed him save 5 match factors however the cruellest of web cords created a sixth – this time, Etcheverry made it throughout the road.

Evans was left upset, saying: “I didn’t play my greatest. A very lengthy sport at 2-1 within the first set in all probability modified the momentum of the match fairly a bit.

“After which on the finish, I felt the momentum was turning however I simply wasn’t pretty much as good as I count on [to be]. It was a tough match. I wasn’t feeling nice how I used to be placing the ball.”