ended his difficult season early<\/a>, while Jan Choinski and Jacob Fearnley were both unavailable through injury.<\/p>\nSmith was then dealt a late blow when British number two Norrie pulled out on Friday after feeling pain in his arm during a practice session.<\/p>\n
However, Samuel – after a breakthrough season that has seen him rise from outside the world’s top 250 to 95th in the rankings – stepped up on his Davis Cup debut.<\/p>\n
Just weeks after winning his first Grand Slam match at the US Open, the 24-year-old overcame nerves and fought back from a set down to beat Andres Andrade 4-6 6-4 6-1.<\/p>\n
Fery, meanwhile, was making just his second Davis Cup appearance as the British number one claimed an assured 7-5 6-0 win over Alvaro Guillen Meza.<\/p>\n
And with world number one Patten and new US Open champion Skupski to call upon for Sunday’s doubles rubber, victory seemed to be well within Britain’s grasp.<\/p>\n
The pair, despite not playing together on the ATP Tour, combined effortlessly and did not face a single break point against the Ecuadorians.<\/p>\n
“We are good friends off the court, which I think always helps, and we spend time with each other when we are on the tour anyway,” Patten told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n
“[LTA coach] Louis Cayer has created the British system so it’s quite easy for Brits to play together – we both have a good idea of what the other player is going to do, where they are going to hit it, where they are going to move to.”<\/p>\n
The last time Britain made it to the quarter-finals in 2023, they fell to a 2-0 defeat by Novak Djokovic’s Serbia, with Norrie and Draper both losing their singles matches.<\/p>\n
“When you get to the Final 8 and you play one of the seeded teams, they are extremely strong,” Smith said.<\/p>\n
“[Italy’s Jannik] Sinner could be back playing, [Spain’s Carlos] Alcaraz has talked about his commitment to it at the end of the year, but you’ve got a chance. You try and steal one of the singles, and it goes to the doubles and you’ve got a good doubles team. <\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of excitement about it, it brings the team together again.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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