OTTAWA, Feb 4 ― Dan Evans, coming off his first ATP final last month in Sydney, got Britain off to a winning start yesterday before Canada's Vasek Pospisil made it 1-1 after the first day of their World Group Davis Cup tie.
Evans opened the first-round clash with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Denis Shapovalov.
The 26-year-old from Birmingham needed only one hour and 50 minutes to dispatch 234th-ranked Israeli-born left-hander Shapovalov, Evans denying the Canadian teenager on his only two break chances of the match in the second set.
Evans, ranked a career-best 45th and his country's top player in the absence of world number one Andy Murray, connected on 64 percent of his first serves and made only 19 unforced errors, 20 fewer than his rival, to put the 2015 trophy winners on top.
Pospisil responded with a 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Kyle Edmund that knotted the best of five-match tie.
Pospisil peppered Edmund with 19 aces and saved all three of the break points he faced in a match lasting two hours and eight minutes.
Pospisil is slated to team with Daniel Nestor against Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot in doubles today. Reverse singles are set for tomorrow.
Britain, beaten by Argentina in last year's semi-finals, downed visiting Canada 4-1 in 1967 in their only prior tie.
The winner will face either France or Japan in the second round. ― AFP
