Nicolas Mejia holds nerve to down Dan Evans and give Colombia lead in Davis Cup qualifier against Great Britain

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. 12 Cameron Norrie, world No. 30 Dan 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.

Cam Norrie faces Nicolas Barrientos in the next rubber as GB try to work their way back into the tie.

MATCH SCHEDULE

Day 1 schedule from 20:00 GMT

• Match one: Dan Evans (GBR) vs Nicolas Mejia (COL)
• Match two: Cam Norrie (GBR) vs 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.