Dan Evans claimed his best Davis Cup victory to add to a debut success for Jack Draper as Great Britain began their campaign in Manchester with an excellent win over Australia.
Draper’s run to the fourth round of the US Open earned him not just a second Great Britain call-up but a first appearance, with Smith picking him ahead of his top-ranked player Cameron Norrie and former world number one Andy Murray.
The 21-year-old fully justified his captain’s faith, thrilling a 9,000-strong crowd at the AO Arena by breaking Kokkinakis when he served for the match then coming from 4-2 down in 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 against world number 12 Alex De Minaur, the highest-ranked player in the four-team group.
De Minaur has had a brilliant summer but Evans is also in form having won the biggest title of his career in Washington and then reaching the third round of the US Open where he took a set off Carlos Alcaraz.
And he extended his tour-level winning record against De Minaur to 3-0, catching the Australian cold and then recovering from losing the second set to lead 4-1 in the decider.
There were some late nerves as De Minaur responded with two games in a row but Evans got his tactics spot on to complete a 6-1 2-6 6-4 victory.
That gave Britain an unassailable lead against last year’s runners-up, with a top-two spot in the group needed to secure progress to the quarter-finals and with matches against Switzerland and France still to come this week.
After drilling a final backhand winner down the line, Draper pretended to hit the bullseye, a reference to the competitive games of darts that have been keeping the team busy away from the court.
Speaking on court, he said: “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 long tenure, Smith’s team, based around Murray, virtually picked itself. Greater options have left him with more difficult decisions and he was criticised for his selection at the same stage last year, when Britain made an early exit.
There will have been great satisfaction for the Scot, therefore, in the performance of Draper, who has been kept off court for much of the season by a string of frustrating injuries but carried the confidence of his run in New York into this clash against another 6ft 4in heavyweight in Kokkinakis.
There was very little to choose between them in the tightest of first sets, with Kokkinakis saving a set point at 4-5 and then clinching his second set point in the tie-break.
Draper came up with the perfect response, breaking Kokkinakis immediately to start the second set and looked to be in ascendancy at the start of the decider.
He could not get the break, though, and was in big trouble when he dropped serve at 4-4 before staging a rousing comeback.
Of his selection, Draper said: “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 injuries through his career, while he has had trouble closing out matches, including in a near six-hour epic against Murray at the Australian Open in January that finished after 4am.
He was left cursing a similar pattern 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.”
Sinner revels in 'special feeling' after confirming year-end number one ranking
Jannik Sinner says it is a "special feeling" to confirm the year-end number one spot following his Shanghai Masters semi-final win.
Sinner is the first Italian to end a calendar year as number one, having clinched the top ranking with a 6-4 7-5 win over Tomas Machac.
He will face Novak Djokovic in his maiden Shanghai final, and his fourth consecutive showpiece, though he lost the most recent in Beijing to Carlos Alcaraz last week.
Sinner (2023-24) has become only the third player in the Open Era to reach seven or more ATP event finals on hard court in consecutive seasons after Roger Federer (2004-07 and 2014-2015) and Novak Djokovic (2011-13 and 2015-2016).
Sinner, who has 64 wins under his belt this season, is the 18th player to end the year as the top-ranked player and said he has fulfilled a childhood dream in doing so.
"It's amazing. It's something you dream of when you are a kid, when you are young, just to reach the number one," Sinner told Sky Sports.
"Now having the year-end, it's also a different and special feeling.
"It means so much to me, obviously. This is something I could not accomplish without all the people I have around — the family and friends and also a big credit to my team."
Djokovic hoping 'stern' Fritz test is ideal preparation for Sinner showdown
Novak Djokovic expressed his relief at reaching the Shanghai Masters final, saying his win over Taylor Fritz pushed him to his limits on Saturday.
Djokovic kept his hopes alive of claiming a 100th tour-level title with a battling 6-4 7-6 (8-6) triumph over the American after overcoming a hip issue at the end of the second set.
The 37-year-old required a medical timeout in the closing stages of his almost two-hour-long battle but returned to the court to reach his fifth showpiece match in Shanghai.
In doing so, Djokovic surpassed Andy Murray (four) for the outright most finals reached at the event, while also extending his unbeaten run against Fritz to 10 matches.
But the 24-time grand slam champion acknowledged the challenges he faced against Fritz, who threatened to take the encounter the distance.
"It always takes it out of me, these kinds of battles, but particularly towards the end of the tournament," said Djokovic.
"At this stage of my career, I’m doing my best to recover, and I had some issues here and there on the court, physically, yesterday and today. But I managed to overcome it.
"It was a stern test. Taylor is in form, playing probably the best tennis of his life coming off a grand slam final, and he's playing really well, particularly on this surface.
"He's serving big, so I knew it was going to be a big test for me. I did not want to get to a third set, and I'm just glad to overcome in two.”
The Serbian's victory set up a meeting with world number one Jannik Sinner, who beat Tomas Machac 6-4 7-5 in the other semi-final.
It will be the pair's first meeting since their final four clash at the Australian Open earlier this year, a contest Sinner would go on to win his maiden grand slam title.
But having performed well at his first tournament since his US Open exit, Djokovic is hoping to join Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer in the 100 club against a player he described as "the best in the world."
"I came to Shanghai after five years of not playing in China, the place where I've always had great success, both in Shanghai and Beijing," said Djokovic.
"[I've won] many titles, had great battles and great performances. I’ve said it many times, the support that I get here is tremendous, and I'm very grateful.
"That creates an energy that keeps me going, keeps me running, so I did come here definitely with a vision and a desire to get to the final and fight for a 100th title.
"I get that chance against the best player in the world, and let's see what happens."
Zheng sets up Sabalenka meeting after reaching first WTA 1000 final in Wuhan
Zheng Qinwen is through to the Wuhan Open final after a straight-sets win over Wang Xinyu.
In a historic, first-ever all-Chinese semi-final at a WTA 1000 event, Zheng reached her first such final, prevailing 6-3 6-4.
There was little to separate the two in the opening exchanges – just as Zheng edged in front with the first break in the fourth game, Wang responded, levelling the scores back at 3-3.
However, Zheng rallied, successfully defending a break point on her way to winning the last three games in a row to take the first set.
Wang faced 12 break points throughout the match, but failed to defend one in the second-set opener, before protecting three as she took a 2-1 lead.
Despite her fight, the Olympic gold medallist dug deep once more, getting two back-to-back breaks in order to clinch clinching the match.
She will face Aryna Sabalenka, who has never lost a match in Wuhan, in the final on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Home favourite
It has been a banner year for Zheng, who is also still in with a chance of qualifying for the WTA finals. Including the Olympics, she has reached the final of four events during 2024, the most she has managed during a single season.
Only Qiang Wang and Shuai Peng (four each) have made more WTA level finals on Chinese soil than Zheng (three, Zhengzhou and Zhuhai in 2023 and Wuhan in 2024) among Chinese players in the Open Era.
In fact, Zheng is just the second Chinese player to reach the final of a WTA 1000 event since the introduction of the format in 2009, after Li Na.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
