TIM HENMANS British stars face old foes Australia tonight after surviving an ATP Cup scare.
The Brits thrashed Moldova 3-0 at the Ken Rosewall Arena and then topped Group C when Belgium came from behind to eliminate Bulgaria 2-1 at 1.15am local time in Sydney.
They went through to the quarter-finals by virtue of having the best set-record of the four teams.
Yet if Bulgaria had won the final clash they won the opening singles rubber against the Belgians then Henmans side would have been sweating on qualification and might have gone out.
Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans won their singles matches while Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury comfortably sealed the 3-0 victory in the doubles.
Norrie, 24, started the rout by beating Alexander Cozbinov in straight sets 6-2 6-2.
World No.42 Evans, 29, sealed the tie triumph by winning 6-2 6-2 against Radu Albot.
And he received enormous praise from skipper Henman, who has been without top stars Andy Murray or Kyle Edmund.
Henman, 45, said: This is a guy that beat Dan in a Tour final last year. Hes a proper player and Dans dismantled him.
Dan was world class again. Gave so little away. Got off to a very good start, took his opportunities, and it was a really clinical performance.
I have known the tennis hes capable of.
I would just say the challenge is to deliver that consistently throughout a match, consistently throughout the tournament and throughout a year.
And I think the element that we focused on is really the mental side of things and just playing it point by point, trying to structure the points on his terms so he can be aggressive and dictate at the right moments.
Hes done a great job of that.
Next up overnight will be a last-eight tie with hosts Australia, who will be led by reformed bad boy Nick Kyrgios.
On the prospect of facing the Aussies, Henman said: I feel like there has been a great spirit in our team.
I have certainly kept an eye on the other cities and whats been going on there.
Obviously I have a lot of history with Lleyton (Hewitt, Australian captain) and everyone knows their team well. It would be a big challenge.
Serbia, led by world No.1 Novak Djokovic, and Russia were the first nations to secure their spot in the knockout stages.
This is the inaugural event of the 12m 24-nation knockout tournament and acts as the curtain-raiser to the new season.
