Davis Cup exit can't hide progress made by GB since ultimate 2010 low

Trailing 2-0 on Friday following defeats for Andy Murray and Yorkshire’s Kyle Edmund at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena, the chances of Leon Smith’s team reaching a second successive final looked very slim indeed.

But the Murray brothers won the doubles rubber on Saturday and Andy defied a thigh injury to defeat Guido Pella 6-3 6-2 6-3 in the opening match yesterday.

That meant the tie came down to a clash between Evans and Leonardo Mayer, and it was the Argentinian who rose to the challenge with a terrific display of serving to win 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.

“It’s not a nice feeling,” said Evans, who had won deciding rubbers against Slovakia and Russia previously.

“The last time that happened was Lithuania. It’s pretty raw right now, for everyone. You do feel like you’re the one that lost the match for those guys.

“We’ve got such a good team and for everyone to leave on a loss, which obviously hasn’t happened for a while, it adds a bit of extra salt to the wound.”

While Evans’s mind may have drifted back to the 3-2 loss to Lithuania in 2010, that also served as a reminder of what an incredible run Britain have been on.

Smith took over as captain that summer and has suffered defeat just three times, guiding Britain from the brink of relegation to the bottom tier all the way to the most unexpected of titles with victory over Belgium last November.

He had nothing but praise for Evans, saying: “It’s a tennis match and all we ask before the players walk out is to give your best effort. Fight for every point, chase everything down.

“Did he do it? Yes, of course he did and he did it great. The (other) guy just played too good.

“We lost a semi-final, so of course it sucks. It feels rough and so it should. We worked really hard to get to this point again, but we’ve had great times in Davis Cup.

“It’s amazing and when you reflect back on it we’ve had a hell of a run.”

Evans would have expected to play Juan Martin del Potro, but Argentina’s best player was severely compromised physically by his exertions in beating Murray over five hours on Friday.

Del Potro had hinted after the doubles on Saturday that he would not be turning out, but both he and Mayer warmed up yesterday.

Until it was announced shortly before the deciding rubber, Evans was not sure who he would be facing.

“We sort of had an idea,” said the 26-year-old. “I’d say they played it pretty well by warming everybody up.”

In the end, Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic was vindicated, with Mayer showing just what the victory meant to him after an injury-dogged 12 months by breaking down in floods of tears.

From a high of 21 in the rankings last year, he has slipped to 114, well below Evans’s current career-high mark of 53.

Mayer made far too many errors in the first set, but, once he found his game and broke for 3-1 in the second, the momentum was set.

The Argentinian nervelessly served out an eighth straight win in Davis Cup singles matches to send Argentina through to a final against Croatia in November.

Orsanic had been criticised for playing Del Potro in doubles, but he explained: “Juan Martin gave more than he had (against Murray) and that had a very high cost for us.

“Originally we would think he would play the fifth rubber if possible, but after Friday’s match we couldn’t think of that. There were a few cards we had to keep to ourselves just to keep Great Britain thinking.

“It’s a very special moment for the whole team. Leo came out with his best tennis, the tennis we used to see, the tennis that made him win a lot of Davis Cup matches and that’s why we believed in him.”