(Tennis news) British number 1 Cameron Norrie helped Great Britain secure a Group Stage place in this year’s Davis Cup with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Nicolas Mejia in Bogota, giving his country a 3-1 lead. Earlier, Dan Evans and Neal Skupski had already secured victories over Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the doubles category. Nicolas Mejia, currently ranked 253rd shocked the world on Friday after defeating Evans in the opening match before Norrie tied the score after overcoming Nicolas Barrientos.
Speaking after the match against Mejia, Norrie said “It was a good day, with Dan and Neal coming out strong, they came out firing with a tough ask against some of the best doubles guys in the world, especially in these conditions in Bogota. It was a good day, with Dan and Neal coming out strong, they came out firing with a tough ask against some of the best doubles guys in the world, especially in these conditions in Bogota.
Mejia was tough, he was trying to get the crowd involved and on his side, and I really made the court mine and I was able to put enough balls in the court and I served really well again. The team was fired up and it wasn’t an easy task for us to get through so Leon and the rest of the guys did a really good job.”
Great Britain’s captain Leon Smith said that he has “immense pride” in his team’s performance despite the short turnaround from the Australian Open. “Feelings are one of immense pride for what the boys have done, and the support team – everyone’s committed a lot of time to this,” Smith said. “Hats off to the players – they came down to Colombia, most straight from Melbourne, came earlier than we would ever normally do for a Davis Cup, it was a big commitment from them, but we did that to prepare best for what happened these last two days and it’s definitely paid off.
“There’s a lot of work that the players have done to adapt in a short space of time and they went out and fought really hard. It never had to be the highest quality of tennis because conditions don’t allow for that, but it needed a lot of grit and determination. The important thing is we got a win, which gives us a chance to keep being successful this year and [we’re] really looking forward to September now.” Great Britain will now play all the group stage games of the Davis Cup in their home territory but the venue is not yet confirmed.
Also read: Davis Cup: India relegated to World Group II after losing Play-off 2-3 to Denmark
