GB played in front of a record crowd of 15,700 in Manchester but are now eliminated as they needed a 3-0 victory against Canada to progress; watch British star Sonay Kartal in her first career WTA Final at the Jasmin Open, live on Sky Sports Tennis from 4pm on Sunday
Sunday 15 September 2024 22:32, UK
Great Britain's hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup were ended by defeat for Dan Evans against Canada's Denis Shapovalov.
Britain's loss to Argentina on Friday, coupled with other results in the group, meant Leon Smith's side went into the final tie at a sold-out AO Arena in Manchester knowing that only a 3-0 victory would send them through.
But it took only an hour and 21 minutes for those hopes to be dashed as Evans was outplayed by former top-10 star Shapovalov, losing 6-0 7-5.
The 15,700-strong crowd - bigger than Wimbledon's Centre Court and a new record for a Davis Cup tie in this country - did their best to inspire the 34-year-old but he could not force a deciding set.
The Lawn Tennis Association has invested significant sums in hosting team events over the past few years but this is now the second time in three years that Britain have gone out in the group stage and shows up the limited options available to captain Smith following Andy Murray's retirement.
Jack Draper should provide him with a strong No 1 for years to come but, at 34 and slipping down the rankings, Evans' best days are surely behind him, while Cameron Norrie has struggled with injury this year.
Billy Harris, who impressed on debut on Wednesday but is very inexperienced at the top level, is already 29, and Smith will surely soon be looking to the likes of 23-year-old Scot Jacob Fearnley and last year's Wimbledon junior champion Henry Searle.
Evans was the standout player for Britain 12 months ago in singles and doubles as the team memorably reached the quarter-finals, but he has struggled for form and fitness since and he just could not find a way into the match.
Shapovalov silenced the crowd with an immediate break of serve and it went downhill from there for Evans in a first set where he won only nine points and appeared to give up in the final game.
He dug in at the start of the second set, firing himself up with each point won, and his chance arrived with two break points in the ninth game.
Shapovalov, currently ranked down at 100 after a knee injury but impressive this week, saved them both, though, and ended Evans' resistance with a break in the final game.
The victory means Canada, who were Davis Cup champions two years ago, join Argentina in advancing from Group D to the final-eight event in Malaga in November.
Great Britain's chances of success in the Davis Cup this year lasted only the 81 minutes it took for former top-10 star Shapovalov to claim a 6-0 7-5 victory over Evans in the first rubber.
Despite it being meaningless in terms of the tie and potential progression, Draper showed what the occasion meant to him by smashing his racket six times after losing the first set to Felix Auger-Aliassime in a 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 defeat in the second rubber.
The US Open semi-finalist had beaten the Canadian, who is ranked just one place below him at 21 in the world, in both their previous meetings, including in Cincinnati last month in a contest that ended in controversy after Draper was incorrectly deemed to have got to a ball before it bounced twice.
In an extremely close, high-quality encounter, it was Auger-Aliassime who had the edge to secure victory for Canada in the tie and extend Draper's record in Davis Cup to one win from four matches.
As for Evans, this week saw the veteran surpass Andy Murray and Mike Sangster in the British all-time list by playing in his 26th, 27th and 28th Davis Cup ties, leaving him behind only Bobby Wilson.
He played the starring role last year as Britain dramatically made it through to the last eight but his ranking has slipped to 178 after a difficult 12 months and he has won only two of his five matches across singles and doubles this time.
Evans made his debut in the Davis Cup back in 2009 and his love for the competition has not faded, but the 34-year-old admitted afterwards he could have played his final match.
"There's a good saying, which I wasn't very good at when I was younger: 'You've got to learn when to leave the party'," said Evans.
"I need to have a think. There's probably some better players coming than me at the minute. I don't think it's right to be putting Leon in awkward positions because I played X amount of ties. If I don't feel capable of playing, I won't come back.
"I've probably had my fair share now. So yeah, it could be and probably will be [the end]. Here, definitely, anyway. So we'll see how it is."
The huge crowd in Manchester did their best to inspire Evans but he won only nine points in a disastrous first set and, although the second was much tighter, he could not force a decider.
"It's just disappointing," said Evans. "Watching Jack [Draper] walk out there with no chance of qualifying, it's difficult and I have to - not live with it, it's not that important - but I have to deal with that. It was frustrating to not give him a shot, I really thought I could have.
"There's no bones about it, it's just a tough moment," said Evans. "It sounds like an excuse, it's really not, but we were behind the eight ball a bit with Jack coming late. Everybody had played a hell of a lot of tennis.
"We just left ourselves a bit too much to do today. We went to bed thinking we could win 3-0 but it wasn't to be."
Great Britain did pull back a point in the doubles, as Neal Skupski and Henry Patten defeated Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneau 7-6 (7-4) 6-4, but still lost the tie 2-1 overall and finished with one win and two losses in Group D.
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