Kyle Edmund defied late sub Feliciano Lopez and a patriotic home crowd to claim the opening singles for Great Britain in the Davis Cup semi-final against Spain.
The sneaky Spaniards made a late change to their line-up when left-hander Lopez came in just before the start to replace injured Pablo Carreno Busta.
And despite the LTA giving away 800 free tickets at the cost of £60,000, there was overwhelming support for the popular Lopez – and the unsporting cheering on the Edmund serve.
But the former British No.1 kept his cool and used his big serve and forehand to hammer his way to victory 6-3 7-6. Andy Murray, who has admitted he is out of condition after a month off, was again not named in the British team but cheered on his team-mate from courtside.
If the late call up for Lopez – who had only played in the opening doubles match Tuesday – had been intended to disrupt Edmund, it did not work. The Yorkshireman won eight of the first nine points and raced into a 3-0 lead and took the 27-minute set with his eighth ace.
But world No.62 Lopez, who won the singles and the doubles title with Andy Murray at Queen’s Club in June, is a wily campaigner and the tight second set went to a tiebreak.
But the world No.69 completed a hat-trick of singles wins since his recalled when he raced to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreak and sealed the win on his third match point when the 38-year-old hit a backhand slice long.
Dan Evans will play world No.1 Rafael Nadal in the second singles.
Edmund, who won 74 per cent of points on his huge first serve, said: “When you start off the match in this situation, there is a lot of noise.
“There are coming here to support Feli. I just had to be really, really focussed and concentrate on myself.
“I just stayed really focussed and concentrated on my game and went after my strokes. I played a very good tiebreak in the end. It was a great performance from myself.”