Davis Cup: Norrie takes Britain through to Finals group stage

Bogota, Feb 5 (IANS) Great Britain secured a place in Davis Cup Finals group stage after Cameron Norrie's straight-sets singles win over Nicolas Mejia gave the visitors an unassailable 3-1 lead over Columbia.

After scoring the first point with a win against Nicolas Barrientos on Friday, Norrie earned his team a decisive third point with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Mejia on Day 2 of the tie, on Saturday.

In Saturday's opening match in Cota, the doubles duo of Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski gave Great Britain a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-4 result against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

"Feelings are one of immense pride for what the boys have done, and the support team. Everyone's committed a lot of time to this, but hats off to the players," British captain Leon Smith was quoted by ATP Tour website. "They came down to Colombia, most straight from Melbourne, came earlier than we'd ever normally do for Davis Cup, which is a big commitment from them. But we did that to prepare best for what happened these past two days and it's definitely paid off."

On day-1 of the tie, Colombia's Mejia earned his first Top 100 win with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 result against Daniel Evans. Then, Norrie levelled the tie at 1-1 by beating Nicolas Barrientos 6-2, 7-5, according to Davis cup website.

With victory in the tie, Britain booked its place as one of 16 teams in the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals, to be played in September after the US Open.

Other teams already confirmed for the group stage include 2022 champions Canada, 2022 finalists Australia, wild cards Spain and Italy, and qualifiers France, the United States, Switzerland, Serbia and Sweden.