A valiant performance from Great Britain's Dan Evans was not enough to prevent Bernard Tomic levelling the Davis Cup semi-final against Australia at 1-1 after day one.
World number three Andy Murray had given Britain a 1-0 lead with a commanding straight-sets victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis earlier on Friday, but Evans was beaten in four by Tomic to leave things all square heading into the weekend.
Things looked bleak for the world number 300 when he gifted Tomic a break in just the second game of the match and German, ranked 23rd in the world, took the first set 6-3 and broke in the very first game of the second as Evans initially struggled to justify his selection.
However, the 25-year-old fought back to break Tomic's serve for the first time and level at 3-3 in the second set, a game which reignited the atmosphere at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
The Brit was unrecognisable from the first set as he forced Tomic into a tie-break, but it was Tomic who prevailed to take a 2-0 set lead and after the Australian secured yet another early break in the third set, Britain were on the brink of losing their lead.
Evans looked down and out at 5-2 behind in the third, but launched a magnificent mini-recovery to break Tomic and force a second consecutive tie-break, and this time it was he who came out on top to claw himself back into the match.
The two players exchanged breaks again in the fourth but it was Tomic who took the set and the match with a 6-3 7-6 6-7 6-4 victory to leave the semi-final finely poised after the first day.
Tom Nightingale
