Davis Cup: Dan Evans earns British win in final set at Braehead

By ELEANOR CROOKS
Published on Monday 13 February 2012 12:12

DAVIS Cup captain Leon Smith hailed the achievements of Britain’s new tennis hero after Dan Evans triumphed in the fifth set of the deciding rubber to give his team a remarkable 3-2 victory over Slovakia at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena.

Without Andy Murray, who is training in Florida, the hosts were second favourites on their return to Europe/Africa Zone Group I but Evans, ranked 276th in the world, won both his singles rubbers to add to Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins’ doubles victory yesterday.

James Ward’s loss to world number 65 Lukas Lacko this afternoon meant the tie would be decided by Evans’ match against Klizan, which looked to be a formality as he won the first two sets, losing only two games.

But Klizan turned the match on its head by winning the third and fourth only for Evans to come through 6-1 6-1 4-6 3-6 6-3, handing Britain a first victory at this level of the competition without a top-100 singles player for 21 years.

They will return to Braehead in April for a tie against Belgium, and another victory would send them through to a World Group play-off in September.

Smith, who has now won all five ties since taking over the captaincy from John Lloyd two years ago, said of 21-year-old Evans: “I’m so, so proud of him.

“Friday was amazing, he played great, but it’s not easy to come out and be the one to try to get through the fifth match.

“The momentum in a best-of-five goes up and down a bit like a rollercoaster. Klizan got a bit of a foothold and it just took Dan to dip a little bit for Klizan to start dictating the points.

“That was why it was so good what Dan did at the start of the fifth, to really stop, have a clear head and realise there was one set to go and that if he could go back to what he did at the start he could take control of the points.”

That it was Evans who was the match-winner made it all the more remarkable, given that the Birmingham player has been criticised in the past for his attitude and commitment. He had also not played Davis Cup tennis for two years.

Indeed, the last time Evans featured he lost a five-set deciding rubber against Lithuania, one of British tennis’ lowest moments, and he experienced the same fate against Poland in 2009.

But, having seen off Lacko in straight sets on Friday for his first Davis Cup win, Evans picked up where he left off and for two sets was irresistible. A missed chance to break serve at the start of the third looked potentially crucial as Klizan found his form and the Slovakian, ranked 156 places higher, went into the decider as the favourite.

But Evans rediscovered his attacking play, broke serve in the third game, and clinched victory on his first match point when Klizan served a double-fault.

Evans was keen to return the compliments to his captain and also gave credit to the Glasgow crowd and his team-mates for roaring him to victory.

“Leon has to take quite a bit of credit, he kept me calm in the chair,” said Evans.

“It was a good match. There’s nothing better when everybody in the building, bar a few, is behind you.

“I’ve never been on a team that’s been as loud as that just behind the court. Davis Cup’s different, everybody unites together in situations like that.”

Earlier, Ward lost out to Lacko despite the tightest of first sets, with the world number 65 putting in a much better performance than he had against Evans to win 7-6 (11/9) 6-1 6-3.

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