Kyle Edmund came of age with victory over Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic to lead defending champions Great Britain into the semi-finals of the Davis Cup.
The 21-year-old was given the responsibility of being Britain’s number one player in only his second Davis Cup tie after Andy Murray pulled out.
Edmund secured his first win in the competition in impressive fashion against Janko Tipsarevic on Friday and, after Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot put Britain 2-1 up in Belgrade on Saturday, found himself in the position of trying to win the tie yesterday.
He played superbly until nerves kicked in when he served for the match in the third set but recovered his composure to win 6-3 6-4 7-6.
The victory extended Britain’s winning run in the competition to six ties and set up a semi-final against Argentina in September, probably in Glasgow.
Andy Murray may well play in that one, making Britain firm favourites to reach the final once again.
It was a rather different Sunday for the world no.2, who seven days after winning Wimbledon found himself sitting in conditions more typical of a Scottish summer as he cheered on Edmund.
But persistent drizzle did not prevent the match starting on time and Edmund, ranked 14 places above his opponent at 67 in the world, immediately took control.
Lajovic then led 4-2 in the third set tie-break but Edmund again used his forehand to fight back and brought up his first match point at 5-6.
When Lajovic drove a backhand wide, Edmund dropped to the clay in celebration before being em-braced by captain Leon Smith and the rest of the team.
Although Serbia were severely weakened by the absence of Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, this was Britain’s first win at World Group level without Murray since 1986 and, coming away from home on clay, represents another hugely notable achievement for Smith’s men.
Argentina reached the semi-finals for the 11th time in 15 years after Federico Delbonis clinched a 3-1 advantage for the South Americans in Italy.
Delbonis withstood a fightback from Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the fourth rubber to win 6-4 7-5 3-6 7-5 in just over three-and-a-half hours, in Pesaro.
World number 40 Delbonis, who defeated Andreas Seppi in four sets in the opening rubber, recorded two singles victories in one tie for the first time in the Davis Cup.
France will play either USA or Croatia in the other semi-final after securing a 3-1 lead against the Czech Republic in Trinec.
World number 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made amends for his defeat to Lukas Rosol in Friday’s opening rubber by defeating Jiri Vesely 4-6 7-6 6-4 7-5 in three hours and 28 minutes to clinch France an unassailable lead.
Tsonga’s victory sealed France’s first win in the Czech Republic since 1926 and their fourth Davis Cup semi-final slot in the last seven years.
Davis Cup QFs
Great Britain bt Serbia 3-2; Argentina bt Italy 3-1; France bt Czech Republic 3-1; US lead Croatia 2-1.