Cameron Norrie beats Nicolas Barrientos to pull Great Britain level with Colombia in Davis Cup qualifier
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ByEurosport
Updated 04/02/2023 at 08:51 GMT
Nicolas Mejia beat Dan Evans 6-2 2-6 6-4 and gave Colombia a one-rubber lead in a best-of-five Davis Cup qualifier at the Pueblo Viejo Country Club just outside of Bogota. The result was the first time the world No. 253 had beaten a top 100 player in his career. That was before world No. 11 Cam Norrie beat Nicolas Barrientos in the second rubber of the day to set up an exciting Saturday.
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Nicolas Mejia held his nerve to beat Dan Evans 6-2 2-6 6-4 to win Colombia’s opening rubber against Great Britain in their Davis Cup qualifier.
GB have by far the stronger line-up on paper as they have three top-40 ranked singles players – world No. 11 Norrie, world No. 30 Evans and world No. 38 Jack Draper – as well as two of the best doubles players in the world in Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.
However, playing on clay at the Pueblo Viejo Country Club just outside of Bogota, provides an additional hurdle for GB captain Leon Smith and his team to navigate. GB were also without Andy Murray after his Australian Open exertions and an inspired Mejia gave the hosts a one-rubber advantage.
Evans was ranked a full 223 places above his opponent in the rankings, but breaks of serve - in the second and eighth games - was enough for the 22-year-old Mejia to open up a one-set lead over the Brit.
However, Evans - acclimatising to conditions, including pressureless balls - began to find his range and touch in the second set, and secured a double break - in the third and fifth games - to take control of the stanza to send the match to a decider.
The world No. 30 had the initiative going into the third, but, despite carving out four break opportunities in the first game, he could not execute any and, roared on by a raucous home crowd, momentum began to edge towards Mejia. He had two break opportunities in the eighth game that Evans defended but the hold to love that followed applied pressure to the Brit.
Serving to stay in the match, Evans threw down two double faults to hand Mejia two match points - the second of which he took to give his country the advantage.
Norrie faced Nicolas Barrientos in the next rubber as GB looked to work their way back into the tie and the Brit emerged successfully with a 6-2 7-5 victory under the lights in Cota.
"It's always difficult playing away and with the altitude and this surface," he said after the match.
"But I really enjoyed the atmosphere and I was able to put enough balls in the court to get over the line. [Saturday] is a big day, so we're looking forward to that."
Norrie, who went out of this year's Australian Open in the third round, got off to a fine start against his opponent ranked outside the top 500.
In front of another lively crowd, Norrie raced into a 2-0 lead before sealing the double break at 5-2. Norrie then had no issues serving out the set with a love hold.
Both players broke each other in the opening service games of the second set. At 2-2, Norrie had to save five break points on his serve.
With Barrientos serving to set up a second set tie-break he was broken. Norrie converted his one break point in the game before serving out the match.
MATCH SCHEDULE
Day 1 schedule from 20:00 GMT
- Match one: Nicolas Mejia (COL) 6-2 2-6 6-4 Dan Evans (GBR)
- Match two: Cam Norrie (GBR) 6-2 7-5 Nicolas Barrientos (COL)
Day 2 schedule from 17:00 GMT
- Match 3: Neal Skupski & Dan Evans (GBR) vs Juan-Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah (COL)
- Match 4: Cam Norrie (GBR) vs Nicolas Mejia (COL)
- Match 5: Dan Evans (GBR) vs Nicolas Barrientos (COL)
The Davis Cup Finals group stage takes place from September 12-17 with the Davis Cup Finals running November 21-26.
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