Great Britain began their quest for an 11th Davis Cup title in excellent fashion with a 2-1 win over Australia in their Group B opener at the Manchester Arena.
Jack Draper immediately game the home crowd something to cheer with a hard-fought three-set win over Thanasi Kokkinakis, before Dan Evans sealed the triumph by overcoming an off-colour Alex de Minaur.
Evans then joined forces with Neal Skupski for a doubles encounter with Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell, where the Australians restored a sense of pride with a 7-6[5] 6-4 victory.
On the back of reaching the fourth round of the US Open - progressing the furthest of any British player in the men's and women's singles - Draper continued to banish his injury woes by coming from a set down to put Kokkinakis to the sword on his Davis Cup debut.
The 21-year-old worked his backhand to magnificent effect and prevailed 6-7[6] 6-3 7-6[4] in two hours and 52 minutes, winning 81% of points behind his first serve and saving three of the four break points he faced.
Draper fell just short in the first-set tiebreaker, but he roared into a 2-0 lead at the start of the second, breaking in Kokkinakis's opening service game thanks to a double fault from the Australian.
Kokkinakis won a mere two points on the Draper serve during the second set as the Briton quickly levelled the match - also breaking the world number 74 as he was serving to stay in the set.
The pair dramatically traded breaks in the ninth and 10th games of the deciding set, before Draper connected with his 12th backhand winner of the day to get off to a winning start in his maiden Davis Cup tournament.
Following Draper's triumph, Evans suffered a minor hiccup against world number 12 De Minaur but nevertheless came through 6-1 2-6 6-4 in two hours and nine minutes, despite winning just 39% of points behind his second serve.
The Evans cross-court forehand was causing a world of problems for an out-of-sorts De Minaur, who was broken twice and double-faulted four times during a disastrous opening set.
However, as Evans's dominance waned in the second, De Minaur won five of the first six games and deservedly forced a decider, but the Australian reverted to old habits as Evans immediately earned the double break for a 4-0 advantage.
De Minaur managed to reduce the deficit to 4-3 to set up a nail-biting finale, but Evans held his nerve when it mattered most and ensured an opening win for the hosts, who could not complete a clean sweep in the doubles.
Evans and Skupski had four chances to break Purcell and Ebden throughout the encounter, but they failed to convert any of them and lost four points on the bounce in the tiebreaker to cede the first set.
After failing to make inroads on the Australians' serve, GB saved one match point as Evans smashed a forehand at the net, but the 33-year-old then overcooked a backhand volley to condemn his nation to defeat.
Leon Smith's team sit second in Group B - which would guarantee a place in the quarter-finals - and now have one full day to recover before Friday's showdown with Switzerland, who lost 3-0 to France in their opening match. body check tags ::
