Hosts progress to face Canada in Sunday's final
Saturday 23 November 2019 23:42, UK
Great Britain were beaten 2-1 by hosts Spain in the semi-finals of the revamped Davis Cup in Madrid on Saturday.
Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski lost the deciding doubles rubber 7-6 (6-3) 7-6 (10-8) against the team of Rafael Nadal and Feliciano Lopez in front of a partisan home crowd.
In the absence of Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund had given Leon Smith's side a 1-0 lead with a convincing singles win over Lopez in the opening match of the tie.
The world No 69 followed up his straight-set wins in the ties against Kazakhstan and Germany with a 6-3 7-6 (7-3) win against Lopez - who himself was a late replacement for Pablo Carreno Busta, who pulled out with illness.
Nadal then beat British No 1 Dan Evans 6-4 6-0 to level the tie going into the deciding rubber.
Spain will go on to face first-time finalists Canada in Sunday's final after they beat Russia 2-1 in Saturday's early semi-final.
Britain were backed by almost 1,000 fans at the Caja Magica after the Lawn Tennis Association provided additional tickets to hand to supporters for free.
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