British No 1 Cam Norrie hangs tough to beat Taylor Fritz and level Davis Cup tie against the USA

Cam Norrie took on his role as Britain’s No. 1 on Wednesday night with a rousing rearguard that kept his team’s Davis Cup hopes against the US alive.

With Andy Murray out of singles, Norrie repaired the damage of an opening loss for Dan Evans by beating his American counterpart Taylor Fritz 2-6, 7-6, 7-5.

That allowed Murray to partner world doubles No. 1 Joe Salisbury in a late night decider against Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock who would decide this first round robin match.

A team loss would be survivable with matches against the Netherlands and Kazakhstan, but the win would put the host nation in charge as they try to reach the World Group final in November.

With a career of eight, Norrie came dangerously close to defeat in the second set in front of a passionate crowd, including his Glasgow father David, who had flown all the way from New Zealand to watch.

He took the tie-break 7-2, but failed to serve out the game the first time he asked for 5-4 in the decider. At 5-5, he broke love with a string of return winners drawn and made no mistake the second time around.

It’s been four years since the British team last played at the Emirates Arena, a regular venue in their heyday around the middle of the last decade.

The atmosphere was deliberately muted for the badger to acknowledge the national mourning. A lone piper played for the anthems and there was no music or razzamatazz between games and points.

The turnout was nevertheless healthy for the 4pm start, with Murray getting the loudest cheers as the players came in and were introduced.

Murray was left out of the singles with the two selections going off the table and his late performance on Wednesday night would test the loyalty of his home crowd. It was an important call from Captain Leon Smith, as Evans’ Davis Cup record against the best 60 players was two wins from eight games, much lower than his total when flying solo.

By the end of the game, it was two wins out of nine, with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 loss, as he was unable to break open Paul’s defense of the world No. 29.

“Probably I lost the match in the first set. It was a very slow course, it took a lot of time to get used to the balls. The balls were tough, it was hard,” Evans said. “I had my chances, but I didn’t take them. All credit to Tommy. I thought he was doing well when I got them.’

In the more simple old format of home and away games, the host nation was allowed to choose the surface to suit its needs.

But with the introduction of groups of four teams, the decision rests with organizers Kosmos and the International Tennis Federation, with the same environment in the different group locations.

An indication of the speed of the field were the 13 breakpoints the pair had, Paul taking five to Evans’ four.

Long rallies abounded, with the home player never quite achieving his goal of sufficiently rushing his opponent into the baseline.

Evans, wearing a black ribbon on his shirt to mark the Queen’s passing, struck first early in the second set but was unable to consolidate.

That proved to be a problem throughout the match, although he seemed to have the momentum when he took the second set. At 3-4 in the decider he was broken again, but stayed in the game by breaking right back with a high lob that landed just into the corner.

By serving to stay in, Evans was broken one last time, leaving the British team behind. But Norrie fought excellently to level it up.