Britain fighting for Davis Cup survival

Jack Draper dropped a must-win singles rubber on Friday to put Britain into a fight for survival at the Davis Cup playoffs in Manchester, with the group stage now a wide-open contest.

The recent US Open semi-finalist who was rested in the early Davis stages, took to the court for the first time this week and went down 7-6 4), 7-5 to Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.

That loss coupled with the 6-2 7-5 defeat of Dan Evans by Tomas Martin Etcheverry  leaves the host side needing a favorable set of circumstances to advance to November’s Finals in Malaga.

If the Argentines beat Finland on Saturday, Britain must blank powerful Canada 3-0 to advance; the Canadians hold the cards in the series, holding a 2-0 record in ties this week with victories in five of six matches.

Draper lost to No. 31 Cerundolo in just over two hours and could not overcome an opponent who struck nearly 40 unforced errors.

The 20th-ranked Brit had a modest 14 winners and 23 unforced errors.

Evans saved five match points and secured three break points but finally went down to Etcheverry and tossing his racquet in anger and frustration.

Main photo:-Tomas Etcheverry winning his rubber over team GB © Davis Cup