Canada draw level with Great Britain after Edmund defeat
ByPA Sport
Updated 04/02/2017 at 15:39 GMT
Great Britain face a potentially make-or-break doubles rubber in their Davis Cup clash with Canada after a dejected Kyle Edmund lost to Vasek Pospisil.
Vasek Pospisil of Canada shakes hands with Kyle Edmund of Great Britain after his singles match win on day one of the Davis Cup World Group tie between Great Britain and Canada at TD Place Arena on February 3, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Image credit: AFP
Dan Evans had given the visitors the lead in Ottawa with a very accomplished 6-3 6-3 6-4 victory over 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov.
But Edmund was unable to build on the momentum and went down 6-4 6-1 7-6 (7/3) to a player ranked 86 players lower as the opening day ended 1-1.
Afterwards, the 22-year-old struggled to hold back tears as he gave a scathing assessment of his own performance.
"It was just not good enough, pretty dismal from my standards," said Edmund. "Everyone can accept winning and losing but it needs to be a lot better at this level.
"I'm just very disappointed for myself, for the team. It's annoying when you have support like that and fans come out and spend money and travel and to put on a performance like that. You just really want to do well."
Captain Leon Smith could face a big task to instil confidence back in Edmund should he be required to play a deciding fifth rubber on Sunday for the first time in his career.
That is a far from unlikely scenario, with the remaining rubbers all tough to call, particularly Saturday's doubles.
Both teams can turn to specialists in the art, with Canada fielding 44-year-old Daniel Nestor in his 50th tie alongside Pospisil, while Britain have Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot.
Pospisil, who fought tears of his own in a post-match interview after a horrible 13 months, needed treatment for a knee problem early in the match but said he would be fit for Saturday.
Britain have an excellent record in Davis Cup doubles but Smith knows this is one of the tougher encounters they have had.
He said: "The most important thing is to dust it (Edmund's defeat) off but focus now on the next matches. There's a lot of tennis to be played.
"It will be a great atmosphere (on Saturday) obviously with Daniel's 50th tie, it's pretty amazing. It's a really close match.
"Obviously Vasek looked like he had a little bit of an injury, it didn't stop him too much but it will be interesting to see how he pulls up. But Jamie and Dom are a really good team. The court should really suit the way they serve."
The lightning surface at the TD Place Arena certainly favoured Pospisil against Edmund but also suited Evans, thrust into the number one role for the first time in the absence of Andy Murray.
It was more than three years since Evans' last win of any kind in the competition but he maintained the momentum of the best period of his career to triumph 6-3 6-3 6-4 and give the visitors a 1-0 lead over Canada in Ottawa.
Wimbledon junior champion Shapovalov is undoubtedly a talent for the future but his first best-of-five-sets match was rather a chastening experience in which he made 39 unforced errors.
The puff of the cheeks from the Birmingham player when the draw was made indicated he knew that this had 'hospital pass' written all over it.
But Evans, fresh from a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open that elevated him to 45 in the world rankings, made the 189-place gap in their rankings look accurate.
The 26-year-old said: "That's what I tried to do, just keep it rolling. It's tough mentally to keep going and going but it's the start of the year and I have to keep going until I get a week off when I get home.
"I stayed focused, played my game. Obviously it would have been easier with Andy but I'm really happy we're 1-0 up and hopefully Kyle (Edmund) can get another point on the board now."
Evans' plan was to seize the initiative from the off and not allow Shapovalov to be the aggressor but the work was done for him.
Shapovalov, with his long blond hair and flashy one-handed backhand, certainly stands out from the crowd but he was wild in the extreme in the early stages.
Evans, hardly a model of reliability over his career, looked comfortable in his role, his nerves only betrayed by four double faults in the opening three games.
Shapovalov grew into the match, feeding off the lively crowd at the ice hockey-turned-tennis arena, and there was little rhythm for Evans to feed off.
In the fifth game of the second set the Canadian followed a complete air shot with a ripped backhand winner and forced two break points but Evans quickly shut down the threat.
And in the following game he showed the class that earned him wins over Marin Cilic and Bernard Tomic in Melbourne, a super lob and deft volley helping him to the crucial break.
Their only previous meeting had been a tight affair at a Challenger event last year but, although Shapovalov continued to fight his hardest, a comeback never looked on the cards.
And the 250 fans who have made the trip from Britain were able to celebrate a job very professionally done when a desperate Shapovalov forehand bounced into the net after an hour and 50 minutes.
Scan me
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement