Cameron Norrie flew to the a straight-sets victory over Uzbekistan’s Sanjar Fayziev in Sunday’s first singles rubber, giving Great Britain the 3-1 lead they needed to seal the Davis Cup World Group play-off in Glasgow.
Norrie had been due to face Denis Istomin in Sunday’s opener but the Uzbek was forced to withdraw with a sore ankle. That brought Istomin’s doubles partner Fayziev on court, but the 24-year-old was no match for the Brit.
Playing with an added determination to get the job done after his defeat on Friday, Norrie wrapped up a 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 victory in just an hour and 53 minutes to spark jubilant celebrations from his team-mates on the bench.
Norrie overcame the early wobble of dropping his first service game to break straight back against Fayziev as he felt his way into the match after the marathon defeat he suffered against Jurabek Karimov two days earlier.
The Uzbek had shown on Saturday that he could play when teaming up with Istomin to take a set off Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot, and he had his chances in the second set when he let five break points go begging.
Norrie, however, was in no mood to let Sunday run longer than necessary and, with the Barmy Army cheering him to victory, he gobbled up a bagel in the third set to take his first Davis Cup victory on home soil.
With British captain Leon Smith and his counterpart Petr Lebed opting not to play the weekend’s final rubber, Norrie’s win ensured a 3-1 victory for Britain and will guarantee them a seeding for February’s World Group first round.
Back the Brits!
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