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Cameron Norrie enhanced his growing reputation but could not prevent Great Britain losing to Spain in the first round of the Davis Cup. Norrie, 22, who was born in South Africa and spent much of his childhood in New Zealand, showed remarkable grit against world No. 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 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (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 Corrie 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." Spain move through to face Germany in the quarterfinals.
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