by Cameron Norrie has paid tribute to a Great Britain team “excited” after their victory in Colombia secured them a place in this year’s Davis Cup Finals.
The world number 11 won a tense encounter against Nicolás Mejía in Bogotá 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to give Great Britain an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Their success came after Dan Evans and Neal Skupski defeated Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the doubles earlier in the day to put the visitors ahead for the first time in the tie.
“It was a good day, with Dan and Neal coming out strong, they came out firing a tough question against some of the best doubles in the world, especially in these conditions in Bogota,” Norrie said.
“It really gave me a lot of confidence going into my match, being 2-1 up instead of 2-1 down.
“Mejía was tough, he was trying to get the crowd involved and his side, and I really owned the court and was able to put enough balls on the court and served very well again.”
“The team was fired up and it wasn’t an easy task for us to get through, so Leon and the rest of the guys did a really good job.”
The day started with the score 1-1 after the teams each picked up a win in the first individual matches on Friday.
Norrie, who defeated Nicolás Barrientos on the first day, defeated Mejía in just over two hours on his second match point.
Norrie’s victory meant that Evans, who lost to Mejia on Friday, did not need to play the final game against Barrientos. Great Britain now progress to the group stage in September.
Captain Leon Smith said he had “immense” pride in his team’s performance, which came despite the brief turnaround that followed the Australian Open.
“The feelings are one of immense pride in what the guys and the support team have done – they’ve all put a lot of time into this,” Smith said before returning to the UK.
“Congratulations to the players: they came to Colombia, most of them directly from Melbourne, they arrived earlier than we normally would for a Davis Cup, it was a big commitment on their part, but we did it to better prepare for what happened these last two days. and it has definitely been worth it.
“There is a lot of work that the players have done to adapt in a short space of time and they went out and fought very hard.
“It never had to be the highest quality tennis because the conditions didn’t allow it, but it took a lot of courage and determination.
“The important thing is that we got a win, which gives us a chance to continue to be successful this year and (we’re) looking forward to September now.
The man who led Great Britain to Davis Cup victory in 2015 added: “I just can’t thank the players enough for the commitment they’ve given, and also the entire support team who have done the same.”
