Jack Draper won through yesterday on his return to the court but he won't play next week at
ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, it has been confirmed with the Brit not yet ready to play back-to-back weeks as he plots his course back.
The overall picture at the
Davis Cup saw Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool avoid a huge scare. They were heavy favourites against the duo of Viktor Durasovic and Nicolai Budkov Kjaer ranked 491st and 1,187th in the doubles respectively.
The pair raced through the first set but completely lost their way in the second. But they held firm to eventually win through 6-2 2-6 7-6 (7-5). Albeit there was a blunder in which Cash produced a service winner to secure victory, he thought it was a 10-point match tie-break. However the umpire had confirmed that Britain had wrapped it up.
"It means the world," Glasspool said after the
Davis Cup win. "It was a little monkey on our back and now we can both free up a little and hopefully get many more wins."
Jacob Fearnley later beat Budkov Kjaer 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 to make it a clean sweep for Great Britain after Fearnley was essentially playing for nothing. The returning
Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie were among the winners on Thursday before that to put Leon Smith's side in a strong position.
Qualifiers next for Great Britain
Draper did not play on Friday and he later withdrew from
Rotterdam albeit he did have a silver lining in his current injury predicament that he is going good but isn't ready yet for more matches after his one this week.
"While I am feeling positive about how my recovery is going I have been advised not to rush straight out and potentially compete in back-to-back matches," he said.
"As disappointed as I am not to be back out there, overall I am trending in the right direction."
Great Britain will compete in the second round of the
Davis Cup Qualifiers in September. The final eight will then take place in Bologna in November with eight nations competing to lift the trophy in a six day event. Italy are three-time defending champions. Japan's two-day tie against Austria started on Friday. Yosuke Watanuki beat Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4 to give Japan the lead. Jurij Rodionov then defeated Shintaro Mochizuki 6-4, 7-5 to level for Austria.
Leon Smith, Team Captain of Great Britain thinks the country are in a good place ahead of the second part of the qualifiers as per
LTA. "I’m really delighted, very proud of what the players have done," he said. "The beginning of the tie with Casper Ruud not being able to play changes the dynamics, but then our guys have to go and deliver.
"We knew with Budkov Kjaer and Durasovic that it’s dangerous. It’s
Davis Cup and things can happen, we’ve done upsets in the past as well so I know how it feels both ways.
"I think the players did a very good job in delivering the type of tennis they wanted to do. They were brave, they were aggressive and there were some tough moments, especially in the doubles match. We didn’t want to lose that and then suddenly the day starts to change a little bit. I think everyone has done a great job and we’ve really enjoyed it here.
"We have to wait and see what happens between Australia and Ecuador. One would be at home, which is Ecuador, and the other would be the other side of the world after the US Open which is a challenge. Wherever it is, we’ve loved this week here and look forward to playing the next round, whoever that might be."