Great Britain crash out to Spain

Brisbane : Great Britain lost 3-1 to Spain in Davis Cup following Cameron Norrie’s singles defeat to Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Cameron Norrie enhanced his growing reputation but could not prevent Great Britain losing to Spain in the first round of the Davis Cup.

The 22-year-old left-hander, who was born in South Africa and spent much of his childhood in New Zealand, showed remarkable grit against world number 21 Albert Ramos-Vinolas before bowing to a four-set defeat.

Their clash was on a knife edge heading into the third-set tie-break, but Ramos-Vinolas edged that and then swept convincingly through the fourth to soothe frayed Spanish nerves in Marbella.

He won 7-6 (7/4) 2-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-2, and Spain could celebrate a victory that few doubted they would achieve this weekend, given Andy Murray’s injury-enforced absence from the British ranks.

They secured an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie, with Britain’s point having been won on Friday by Norrie with his stunning comeback win over Roberto Bautista Agut.

Great Britain captain Leon Smith said: “I can’t speak highly enough of what Cam’s done all weekend and yet again today.

“People might have thought it was a one-off what he produced on Friday, but he did it again today against another really high quality player.”

Norrie, who sits 114th in the world, gave 21st-ranked Ramos-Vinolas a torrid time for long stretches of the match.