Dan Evans says his shock defeat to Nicolas Meija in Great Britain’s Davis Cup qualifier with Colombia is “the hardest loss to take”.
Evans was beaten 6-2 2-6 6-3 by his 253rd-ranked opponent on the clay in Bogota at an altitude of over 2,500 metres, before British No 1 Cameron Norrie levelled the tie with a 6-2 7-5 victory over Nicolas Barrientos.
Evans and Neal Skupski will take on former world No 1 doubles pair Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in Saturday’s opening match before Norrie plays Meija and Evans then concludes the tie against Barrientos.
Ten-time Davis Cup winners Britain are attempting to reach September’s group stage.
World No 30 Evans said: “I did my best – it was obviously very difficult conditions.
“It’s disappointing to lose, especially for your country with everybody supporting you – it’s the hardest loss to take. But there’s a job for the weekend.”
Cameron Norrie breezed past Nicolas Barrientos to level the tie in Bogota
Norrie said of the passionate home support: “It was great, especially as I haven’t had the experience of an away tie in a while. It was great to have the atmosphere and I thought they were very respectful and very loud.
“It’s always difficult playing away and with the altitude and this surface but I was able to put enough balls in the court to get over the line. I think I can improve on a lot of things.”
Britain’s captain Leon Smith said: “This is why we love Cam to bits, he’s number 11 in the world for a reason.
“He’s got really good experience, he’s got a great game, he competes well, his mentality is really, really good. We’re really proud of what he did out there.”
