British Tennis - Lawn Tennis Association

Colin Fleming sealed a whitewash victory for GB over Hungary in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sebo Kiss.

The doubles specialist, playing in his first ever Davis Cup singles rubber, showed the kind of form that took him to the quarter-finals of an ATP Challenger in China earlier this year.

“I absolutely loved it,” Fleming said after the match. “It’s a really proud moment for me to come and play singles in the Davis Cup. I know it’s a dead rubber but to come and play in Scotland, in Glasgow, it’s great.”

AEGON GB Davis Cup captain Leon Smith paid tribute to the team after the tie: “I am really proud of the guys and the whole backroom team. It was really hard work but a good weekend. I thought today was excellent. Even though it was dead rubbers, it was a really great atmosphere.” 

Fleming created his first opening at 3-3 but it wasn’t until the ninth game that the breakthrough came. Successive forehand errors off the Kiss racket secured the break, but the damage had been done by the Brit coming back from 40-15 down and, at game point, piling on the pressure with sharp crosscourt backhands followed by a drop shot winner to return the score to deuce.

Fleming quickly converted a 5-4 lead into a one-set advantage with four big serves and returned to the chair to a standing ovation from the GB team.

The Brit started the second set slowly, throwing in double faults at 1-0 and netting a routine volley to hand his opponent a 2-0 lead. Like Murray in the previous match, however, he struck straight back, setting up break point with a backhand down-the-line winner and converting courtesy of another Hungarian error.

Fleming saved break points again at 1-2, bringing his doubles expertise to the singles court with some stylish netplay, including a knifed low backhand volley winner. It was enough to shift the momentum back towards the Brit, who immediately carved out another break point opportunity with a baseline-skimming forehand. Once again it was a Kiss error that handed the lead to Fleming and he underlined the break to love with some solid serving.

There were nervous moments again at 4-3 but Fleming faced down break point with some sharp serve-volleying. The Brit’s resolve once again proved decisive and he sealed victory on the Hungarian’s serve, snatching his second match point to win his first ever singles rubber in Davis Cup.

The Scot paid tribute to another vocal Braehead Arena crowd after the match: “Thank you everyone. You made it really special.”

The Brit also added that it was a challenge to make the transition from singles to doubles: “The points are much longer, it’s physically a lot tougher, but I try to keep myself in shape and play singles when I’m on the road, and I think I did pretty well.

“Credit to him [Kiss] because these dead rubbers can slip by without much event but I tried to put on a good show and play the best tennis I could, and so did he.”

The draw to decide who GB will play in Group I is due to take place on Wednesday 21^st September at 12.30pm. An announcement will be made on the LTA website.