Debutant Draper gets Britain off to winning start
Great Britain’s bid to reach the Davis Cup Finals knockout stage started with a tense victory as debutant Jack Draper beat Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis.
In the first of a best-of-three-match tie, 21-year-old Draper won 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) against Kokkinakis.
British number two Dan Evans plays Alex de Minaur, ranked 12th in the world, in the second singles match on Tuesday.
Evans is then set to play with Wimbledon champion Neal Skupski in what could be a deciding doubles match.
Four nations – Britain, Australia, France and Switzerland – are playing in the group stage event held at Manchester’s AO Arena.
They all play each other once in a round-robin event, with the top two countries going through to the knockout stage – known as the ‘Final Eight’ – in Malaga later this year.