MADRID, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Spain and Britain ended the first day of their Davis Cup tie with a surprise 1-1 on the scoreboard after Britain' s Cameron Norrie, who is ranked 114th in the world, pulled off one of the shocks of his career to beat world number 23, Roberto Bautista.
Norrie was 6-4, 6-3 down to Bautista and seemingly heading for defeat, especially as he had only played three times on clay in his career, last won on that surface in 2013 and had never won over five sets,
However, in front of 8,000 Spanish fans he produced an incredible fightback saw him win the last three sets to claim the rubber, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
The Spanish were clear favorites to win the match before it started, due to it being played on their favored beaten clay surface in Marbella (southern Spain). Meanwhile Britain fielded a weakened team without the injured Andy Murray or Kyle Edmund, who recently reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
While Spain captain, Sergi Brugera was able to enjoy the luxury of resting world number 10, Pablo Carreno for Saturday's doubles and still field world number 21 Albert Ramos against Davis Cup debutant, Liam Broady (ranked 165 in the world), while Roberto Bautista faced another debutant in Norrie.
As expected Ramos got Spain off to a flying start against Broady, who had only played one game on clay in the last 2 years, with a straight sets win (6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6), to set the stage for Bautista to double Spain's lead, but thanks to Norrie's incredible display the tie instead goes into Saturday's doubles well balanced at 1-1.
