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Billy Harris stepped into the limelight in the absence of Jack Draper to guide Great Britain to victory in their Davis Cup opener against Finland in Manchester.
British number one Draper was rested five days after losing to Jannik Sinner in the US Open semi-finals and cheered from the sidelines at the AO Arena as Britain secured a 2-1 win.
That meant a debut at the age of 29 for Manxman Harris, who is the ultimate late developer having finally made his way to the upper echelons of the sport over the last 12 months after years spent touring round Europe in a converted transit van.
And he held his nerve brilliantly in a tight second set against Otto Virtanen to secure a 6-4 7-6 (4) victory and give the hosts an unassailable lead following Dan Evans’ 7-6 (3) 6-2 success against lowly-ranked Eero Vasa.
But Britain were unable to claim the 3-0 win they wanted as Virtanen teamed up with Harri Heliovaara to beat Evans and Neal Skupski 7-6 (4) 7-5 in the doubles.
With tougher ties against Argentina and Canada to come on Friday and Sunday respectively, it undoubtedly took the shine off the day for captain Leon Smith.
“It is a positive day,” said the Scot. “If you look at it and you don’t have Jack, your highest ranked, you don’t have Cam Norrie, your second highest ranked, and you end up winning a tie 2-1, you would take that.
“I’m obviously absolutely thrilled for Billy. I think that’s one of the best debuts you’ll have seen, it was that good. We were sort of joking beforehand, nothing really fazes him. You could tell before the match that he was ready.
“The doubles, it feels disappointing. Last year it almost came back to bite us that we didn’t get that 3-0 on the first day.”
It would be a surprise if Draper does not come into the team against Argentina, with Smith adding: “Hopefully he’s available to be an option for Friday, I’m pretty sure he will be. It was just a little bit too quick a turnaround in my eyes.”
This was a tricky first match for Harris against 23-year-old Virtanen, ranked only nine places lower at 110 and who played a key role in Finland’s surprise run to the semi-finals last year.
Harris was in complete control against an erratic opponent until 4-2 in the second set, when he missed multiple chances to secure a double break and was immediately pegged back.
But he withstood pressure to force a tie-break and showed the composure of a seasoned campaigner to clinch the victory.
“I think debut for Great Britain, this probably tops it all so far,” said Harris. “Definitely a few nerves in there, you’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for team and country. But as soon as it got going I felt good out there. A very proud moment and I’m happy I put in a good performance.”
Evans’ clash with Vasa was a landmark occasion for the British veteran, who by playing in his 26th tie in the competition surpassed Andy Murray to claim joint second place in the British standings alongside Mike Sangster and behind only Bobby Wilson.
He would not have been a bigger favourite in any of his previous 37 rubbers, but Vasa played well above his standing of world number 703 during a tight first set.
“I knew his ranking, which probably made it a bit more difficult, there’s a lot more pressure for me to win the match,” said Evans, who has slipped to 178 in the world after a difficult 12 months.
“As well as Billy being a debutant, I really wanted to be 1-0 up, just would help him out a bit more. I did well to weather the storm, and it was pretty comfortable in the end.”
Smith stuck with Evans in the doubles alongside Skupski despite having called up Henry Patten, who won the Wimbledon title this summer with Heliovaara, to his squad.
But it was the Finns who were celebrating at the end after edging the tightest of contests.
The top two teams in each group progress to the final eight in Malaga in November, and in Group B in Valencia there was a return to winning ways for Carlos Alcaraz, albeit through an injury to Czech opponent Tomas Machac.
