DAN EVANS withstood a spirited challenge from lowly ranked Eero Vasa to give Britain a winning start to their Davis Cup tie against Finland in Manchester.

It was a landmark match for Evans, who by playing in his 26th tie in the competition surpassed Andy Murray to claim joint second place in the British standings alongside Mike Sangster and behind only Bobby Wilson.

He would not have been a bigger favourite in any of his previous 37 rubbers, but Vasa played well above his standing of world number 703 before Evans ground out a 7-6 (3) 6-2 victory at the AO Arena.