Crosby tennis ace Billy Harris made sporting history on Wednesday afternoon when he became the first Manxman to appear in the Davis Cup.

The 29-year-old lined up as part of the Great Britain squad that took on Finland at Manchester’s AO Arena.

Andy Murray’s recent doubles partner at the Olympics, Dan Evans, opening the tie with a straight-sets victory over Eero Vasa 7-6(3), 6-2.

Harris took on Otto Virtanen, who sits 110th in the world rankings, in the second single match of the tie.

The former Castletown and Albany LTC member broke the 23-year-old’s serve to win the first set of the pair’s encounter 6-4.

The Finn battled back in the second despite an early break of serve from Harris, with Virtanen breaking back to lead before the Isle of Man player responded in kind to make it 6-6 and force a tie-break.

And it was Harris who kept his composure to take control of the tie-break, ultimately winning 7-4 to clinch the tie overall for Great Britain.

Speaking to the BBC live on court immediate after his triumph, Harris commented: ‘Unbelievable atmosphere out here, the home crowd pulled me through in the end. When it was tight, the crowd getting behind me there made a big difference so thank you all.

‘[Otto Virtanen] he’s a very aggressive player and I knew he was going to serve big throughout the match so just a matter of getting the return in as much as possible and taking the chances when they came.’

Asked what the highlight of his extraordinary 2024 has been so far, he added: ‘I think this has just topped it for me. We play week in, week out for ourselves and the first time playing for my country and a great start.’

- Further group match ties follow in Manchester later this week against Argentina on Friday (September 13) and Canada on Sunday (September 15).

All three ties will be available to watch on the BBC Sport website and app, iPlayer and Red Button.

The top two in the group will progress to the last eight in Malaga in November.