Belgium has won the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Euro/Africa Zone Group I tie against Great Britain at Braehead Arena, Glasgow and will now go on to compete in the World Group Play-Off.
David Goffin's 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Josh Goodall in the opening singles rubber of the final day's play was enough to secure the victory for Belgium to leave them with an unassailable lead in the tie.
After the match, the AEGON GB Davis Cup Team Captain Leon Smith commented: “We talked beforehand about leaving everything out there and Josh did that. I’m very proud of Josh and all the guys this weekend”
“We worked really hard to get in to this position and it was always going to be a very, very difficult tie but we were very close to winning it, ultimately it came down to fine margins”
“It inspires me to see that the guys aren’t far away and should be playing at this level week in, week out."
In the fifth and final dead rubber, which under ITF regulations, was the best of three sets, Ruben Bemelmans defeated Dan Evans 6-4, 6-4 to complete a 4-1 victory for Belgium in the tie.
However the tie was secured earlier in the day following an impressive performance in from Goffin, the 21 year-old playing his first Davis Cup by BNP Paribas singles rubber for his country following the late withdrawal of the experienced Olivier Rochus due to a thigh injury.
The world number 112, who came into the tie in good form having won the ATP Challenger in Guadeloupe last week, broke his British opponent in the third game of the opening two sets to open up a commanding two set lead.
Goodall, ranked 141 places below his Belgian opponent, continued to battle hard though and managed to break the Goffin serve in the third set.
He then showed great resolve to save six break points in the fifth game but ultimately the right hander from Leige was not to be denied his first Davis Cup victory.
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