It had all the makings of a misadventure. A Great Britain side spearheaded by Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans, respectively ranked 12th and 25th in the world, up against a vibrant young Czech Republic team featuring two players with a combined ranking of 281, with a Davis Cup quarter-final place on the line.
Having beaten France in their opening Group C match in Innsbruck, Great Britain were, on paper, the obvious favourites. But as Leon Smith, the team captain, remarked after a hard-fought 2-1 victory, rankings and reputations don’t always mean much in a competition that, for all the turmoil surrounding its current format and future location, retains its power to surprise and enthral.
“You look at the rankings and a lot of people would think it’s going to be straightforward, but it’s never like that,” said Smith. “We’ve seen that time and time again in the Davis Cup. We’ve been underdogs and managed to get wins. The Czech team played really well.”
Tomas Mahac, a richly talented 21-year-old with a silken two-fisted backhand and a surfeit of confidence after beating Richard Gasquet in his opening group match against France, got the Czech team off to a flyer with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Evans.
Struggling to reach the heights of which he is capable before the empty stands in Austria, where a national lockdown is in place, Evans was unable to contain Mahac’s impressive all-court game, the Czech running away with the opening set before overcoming a 2-5 deficit in the second. It was, as Smith later remarked, as though Mahac “had suddenly turned into a top-20 player overnight”.
“It was a difficult match,” said Evans. “He played well. I didn’t play so well. Got myself in a winning position in the second set and didn’t take it. A bit indecisive really. But the Czech Republic [are] always very tough in Davis Cup. They’ve always got a lot of passion.”
With the pressure on, Norrie defeated the big-serving Jiri Lehecka 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, recovering strongly after some uncharacteristic errors at the start of the second set encouraged the 20-year-old to unleash a barrage of huge shots. Having survived a break point early in the decider, Norrie quickly re-established his momentum, toughing out a lengthy game to earn a break of his own.
“I played a pretty flawless first set,” said Norrie. “[Then] I came out and I played a couple of loose points, lost my serve, then he definitely raised his level, was very aggressive, hit his spots on the serve. I found myself down 3-0, double break, pretty quickly. All credit to him.
“It was a great win… it was obviously a big match, a must-win match.”
With the tie level, Great Britain’s fate was in the hands of Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. Win, and the team would be through to the last eight; lose, and they would be out by virtue of the Czechs having won a higher percentage of sets in the group.
Salisbury and Skupski lost their opening match of the competition, a dead rubber against the French pairing of Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech, but the British duo bounced back strongly from that disappointment to see out a 6-4, 6-2 win against Jiri Vesely and Machac.
“Obviously very, very satisfying, very happy to get the win,” said Salisbury, who won this year’s US Open men’s doubles alongside Rajeev Ram and partnered Skupski – winner of the Wimbledon mixed doubles Desirae Krawczyk – to the San Diego Open title last month.
“We were a bit disappointed with our performance yesterday [against France]. But we were confident we would come back stronger today. Going into it knowing that we had to get the win, I think we kind of embraced that situation. I think it brought the best out of us. Very happy for the team that we’re moving on.”
Great Britain will face Germany, who beat Austria 2-1 to top Group F, in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.
Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz won the decisive doubles rubber for Germany, defeating Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald 6-3, 6-4. Jan-Lennard Struff had earlier hauled Germany back into the tie with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Dennis Novak, cancelling out Jurij Rodionov’s 6-1, 7-5 win against Dominik Koepfer.
Also through from Group F are Serbia, who qualified alongside Sweden as one of the two second-placed teams with the best match win-loss records. Novak Djokovic and company will face Group B winners Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals.
Serbia went through at the expense of Spain, who were edged out of the quarter-final picture by the Russian Tennis Federation despite an inspired performance by Feliciano López in the opening singles rubber. López, 40, who stepped up for the defending champions after Carlos Alcaraz tested positive for Covid-19 on the opening day in Madrid, came from behind to defeat Andrey Rublev, the world No 5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“Every time he’s playing here in Madrid, he’s giving his best,” said Rublev. “He’s super focused, controlling his emotions. He’s not complaining at all. He’s giving his best every point. That’s what he was doing today, and he was playing amazing.
“He played some amazing volleys out of nowhere. He was playing really well and he deserved to win.”
Daniil Medvedev levelled the tie for the competition favourites with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win over Pablo Carreño Busta before Rublev and Aslan Karatsev came through 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the doubles against Marcel Granollers and López.
“Unfortunately, playing in this format, sometimes you do what you have to do, and you don’t get the prize,” said López. “This is what happened – winning 3-0 and losing 2-1 the way we lost today, [it] is really rare not to qualify. This is why we are so disappointed now, especially myself, giving one point to my team and then going one set up in the doubles. We were very close, but it was not enough.”
The Russian team will face Sweden in the last eight. “Like every time in Davis Cup, it’s going to be a tough match,” said Medvedev. “We know we are the favourites, but in sport, it doesn’t matter all the time. So we just need to show our best tennis to win.”
In the last of the quarter-finals, Italy will host Croatia in Turin. The United States finished second to Italy in Group E after a 2-1 defeat to Colombia that left Mardy Fish, the US captain, in rueful mood.
“You can see the passion for Davis Cup, playing for their country, for the players,” Fish said of Colombia. “You look at the passion that some of these countries have for how they play and how they compete when they were out of it completely. You know, these guys are giving fist pumps every other point. It’s impressive, and it’s something that I hope, as a captain, to strive for and get our players to do.”