Leon Smith banking on record crowd to inspire GB in crunch Davis Cup clash

Only a 3-0 victory over Canada at the AO Arena would send Britain through to the quarter-finals.

Leon Smith clenches his fist at the side of the court (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

Leon Smith hopes a full house in Manchester can help Great Britain achieve “something amazing” in their Davis Cup clash with Canada on Sunday.

Britain suffered their first defeat at the AO Arena on Friday when they were beaten 2-1 by Argentina, which left them with an uphill task to reach the last-eight event in Malaga in November.

The top two in the group will qualify and their only chance of achieving that following Argentina’s win over Finland on Saturday is to beat Canada 3-0.

Jack Draper looks disappointed during his loss to Francisco Cerundolo (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

But in Britain’s favour will be a record crowd for a Davis Cup tie in this country of 15,000 – 2,000 more than the mark achieved last year for the final match against France.

That saw one of the most dramatic finishes in the competition’s long history, with Dan Evans and Neal Skupski saving four match points to win the deciding doubles rubber in a final-set tie-break.

Asked if Britain could write another notable chapter, captain Smith said: “Why not? There’s crazy stuff that happens, but it’s not that crazy to go out and win three matches.

“We’ve got a really good team. Yes, they have a good team, but on paper each one of those rubbers you feel you’ve got a chance in them.

More than 15,000 fans are expected at the AO Arena on Sunday (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

“There’s 15,000 people coming, you couldn’t ask for a better stage to go and make something amazing happen. We had it last year when you’re a point away from us going out.

“You get the first match, the feeling starts to change, doesn’t it? We’ve given ourselves a chance.”

If Smith sticks to his expected team, there is certainly reason to hope, given Evans is tied at 2-2 in his head-to-head against Denis Shapovalov, while Jack Draper has won both of his previous matches against Felix Auger-Aliassime, most recently just last month in Cincinnati.

Draper is at a career-high ranking of 20, one place above Auger-Aliassime, after his run to the semi-finals of the US Open, but he could not find a way past inspired Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo on Friday.

After the 7-6 (4) 7-5 defeat, Draper spoke out about the demands of the tennis calendar, although the good news was the right hamstring niggle that had bothered him in New York appears to have cleared up.

“It’s not just New York, it’s a summer of play, the year of play,” said Smith. “And, obviously, on top of that, if you go deep at the US Open then of course it’s tough. But I think the guy played a great match. He didn’t miss a ball. Jack tried his backside off. Sometimes it happens.”

Draper only made his Davis Cup debut here last year when he was the fourth player behind Evans, Cameron Norrie and Andy Murray, but now he is central to his country’s prospects.

“It feels very different,” said the 22-year-old, who has won only one of his first three rubbers in the competition.

“I feel I’m a very different player all round, my experiences, my ranking, not having Andy and Cam here is a bit different. But it’s been tough for me so far, Davis Cup.

“I had a really good match against (Australia’s Thanasi) Kokkinakis, and then (Miomir) Kecmanovic (of Serbia) and (Cerundolo), I feel I’ve played two guys playing 10 out of 10 tennis and they can do no wrong.”

Carlos Alcaraz’s Spain, who missed out on the quarter-finals last year, are one of four countries already through, along with Australia, Germany and USA.

Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, raced to a 6-0 6-1 win over Greece’s Ioannis Xilas in just 45 minutes in Serbia’s World Group tie.