Patten and Skupski take Great Britain past Ecuador to reach Davis Cup Final 8

Few people across London enjoyed a more soothing night’s sleep than Leon Smith on Saturday. After an ideal first day for his team in their Davis Cup qualifier against Ecuador, where his singles players both did their jobs, the Great Britain Davis Cup captain had the luxury of calling upon two of the very best doubles players in the world to close out the tie.

In just their second match as partners rather than rivals, the world No 1, Henry Patten, and Neal Skupski, the US Open champion a week ago, played their roles to perfection as they convincingly sealed Great Britain’s place in the Davis Cup Final 8 with a clinical 6-3, 6-4 victory over Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo, earning Great Britain a 3-0 win in the tie.

This victory moves Great Britain back into the last eight of the Davis Cup – which takes place between 24 and 29 November in Bologna – for the first time since 2023. Their victory was propelled by wins on Saturday by Arthur Fery, the British No 1, and the No 5 Toby Samuel, who overcame tense starts before settling down and easing to victory.

On Saturday evening, Smith had warned that there would probably be few breaks in the doubles match to come due to the fast indoor conditions inside the Copper Box. It was a source of great pleasure, then, when Patten and Skupski burst into the match with a brilliant opening return game, immediately breaking serve with no fewer than three lob winners, including a particularly sweet backhand lob from Skupski on break point.

Despite the far superior pedigree and achievements of the British team, the Ecuadorian doubles team were not to be underestimated. Doubles specialists ranked just inside the top 100, they were responsible for Ecuador’s impressive shock victory over Australia in February.

With the first break secured, the British team took care of their service games throughout, not offering a single break point, and then they pounced as soon as the Ecuadorians became tense in the latter stages of set two. Skupski stole the decisive break with a forehand return winner before Patten bulldozed through the final service game to close out the match.

There are many more difficult teams they could have faced – in the best tie of the weekend, the United States, led by US Open finalist Ben Shelton, were toppled 3-2 by an excellent Czech squad while France lost to Canada in front of 10,000 Québecois fans led by Félix Auger-Aliassime – but this was still a good result in the sold-out 5,000 capacity arena.

It is a good reflection of the Great Britain team’s depth, with five British players currently inside the ATP top 100, that they were still able to succeed in the absence of their two most successful active singles players. Jack Draper has been out with injury foran extended period while Cameron Norrie could also only passionately cheer on from the sidelines this week after he was forced to withdraw at the last minute due to injury.