BRITAIN accused Spain of dirty tricks as Rafa Nadal ruthlessly crushed their Davis Cup dreams.
World No1 Nadal sent his nation into a first Davis Cup final since 2012 as they beat the Brits 2-1 in the six-hour semi-final in Madrid.
Yet the GB camp were unhappy with the decision to bring in Spanish reserve Feliciano Lopez TEN MINUTES before the start of their opening singles rubber.
Pablo Carreno Busta was named by the hosts to face Kyle Edmund when the original teamsheets were handed in.
Yet according to the ITF he pulled out with a left leg injury following an evaluation by an independent doctor.
Lopez may have lost that match 6-3 7-6 to Edmund but he then helped Nadal win the crucial doubles clash at 12.35am local time.
Edmund, 24, said: I found out five minutes beforehand.
Busta came to warm up on the bike for two minutes, and then he left.
I said straightaway: Something is a bit weird there.
I think they knew what was going on but they just sort of went to the rules, they could do that.
On paper maybe they didnt do anything wrong. But if you say about this spirit, its professional sport, this is why we always talk about these things.
It happens in football, little mind games. But once its done, its done.
British No.1 Dan Evans, 29, said: Its a little naughty. That independent doctor came in and said Carreno was not fit to play which is interesting, isnt it?
If you name a team, we just think thats going to be the team. It was a surprise when Lopez come in within ten minutes.
After Fridays quarter-final victory over Germany, Andy Murray acted as an unofficial ticket tout by calling on Brits to travel to the Spanish capital in an Instagram post.
A total of 798 British fans took up the option of free tickets supplied by the kind LTA.
SunSport understands British tennis chiefs spent 60,000 on tickets to increase the atmosphere at the Magic Box.
They were certainly in good voice at the start as pumped-up Edmund kick-started proceedings by battering an underprepared Lopez.
In the next match, few people expected Evans to upset the French and US Open champion Nadal.
To his credit, the Brummie matched the Spanish hero in the opening games and played with aggression.
But a key break in the first set opened the floodgates as he went down 6-4.
Nadal won the second 6-0 as Evans was bagelled in competitive action for the first time this year.
Kyle Edmund accused Spain of gamesmanship ahead of the Davis Cup semi-final
In the pivotal doubles encounter, Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski were once again required to pull another magic trick out of the bag as they had done three times this week.
But against the stellar combination of Nadal and Lopez they fell short, losing 7-6 7-6 in a classic match, which was full of drama and tension.
At times the noise from the home fans was deafening more akin to a football bearpit than a tennis match.
The Spaniards will face Canada tonight after they came from behind to beat Russia 2-1 in the semi-finals.
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