LEON Smith has told how he wrestled with the decision to name Dan Evans as his second singles player for this weekend's Davis Cup semi-final tie against Australia at the Emirates Arena. Evans, Britain's No 8 player and the World No 300, wasn't even in Smith's original five-man selection for the tie but he was still ultimately picked ahead of James Ward and Kyle Edmund, alongside Andy Murray and doubles specialists Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot. Evans will hope to reprise his 2013 US Open victory over Bernard Tomic immediately after Andy Murray, who declared himself fit following a minor stomach problem which prevented him from attending Wednesday night's official team dinner, takes on his friend and practice partner Thanasi Kokkinakis in the day's first rubber.

The mercurial Evans has big Davis Cup singles wins against Slovakia's Martin Klizan and Lukas Lacko and Russia's Evgeny Donskoy on his resume but as recently as June, when he lost in qualifying for Wimbledon, his world ranking stood at a lowly 763. Since then the 25-year-old has won 31 of his last 36 matches, won a futures tournament in Nottingham and would have been playing a Challenger Tour event in Istanbul had he not been called up out of the blue by Smith to prove his worth in practice. Ward has been short of confidence following a poor run of results this summer, while Edmund rolled an ankle in practice here and would have represented a risk too far. Selecting a third singles player wasn't deemed an option as Smith wanted to leave himself the flexibility to rest Andy Murray during the doubles on Saturday.

“It wasn’t an easy decision," said Smith. "But having thought about it a lot, the fact Dan has played a lot of tennis this summer and won a lot of matches - albeit mostly at futures’ level - really helps. He has a lot of confidence and obviously Kyle, although he is almost fit, still had a fall the other day, and at this stage it wasn’t worth risking anything happening over the weekend.

“I’m not going to make a snapshot decision because one person hit the ball well for an hour and a half," he added. "But Dan has had a good summer. Indoors he has a very good game and a good record against one of their players in particular. He has elements in his game which can cause, and did cause, Tomic a few problems when they played at the US a couple of years ago. I have got confidence he can step up a level again, despite the fact he hasn't been playing many top 100 guys. Although it was a tough decision I think it was the right decision.

"On the way in here I passed Kyle doing his sprints on the running track, so that sums him up. Wardy will get over it - he’s played a big part in big ties, but this is what happens in team events. What I’ve stressed to them is that we’ll move on and, hopefully, if we get through to a final then there’s a hell of a lot to play for.”

Murray threw his support behind Smith's decision and said he was fighting fit for a potentially awkward first meeting with Kokkinakis, the World No 72, and a man who appears set to achieve great things in the sport. The World No 3 feels the noisy support of the Glasgow crowd could also be a difference maker. “I had a bit of a dodgy stomach on Wednesday night, but I felt fine in the morning," said Murray. "Just after practice on Wednesday I felt a bit off - I don’t know if it was something I’d eaten, but I thought it was probably better to stay in the hotel, to lie down and relax. It’ll be a tough match against Kokkinakis. I’ve practised with him a lot and watched him a lot, so I know his game better than I do a lot of the younger guys. We practised before the US Open and French Open and also played doubles in Miami. He’s a pretty explosive player, but it’ll be a tough one for him as well - the atmosphere will, I think, be challenging for them. That’s something they have to deal with and hopefully something that will give us a boost."

Evans' application to his tennis has been questioned from time to time, but Andy Murray feels he has the temperament to handle his sudden exposure to the limelight. "His talent has never been in question and I also think he has the kind of personality which gets up for big matches," said the 28-year-old. "Obviously some players can freeze in that situation but his personality will handle that fine. He has a game which is different to the other players in that team. It is not a game a lot of players on the tour play these days, and obviously he has a way of playing which will be tricky for Bernard on Friday. But he has to play a high level of tennis. That is the reality here: we are all playing against top players here and if we want to win we are all going to have to play extremely well. I trust Leon's decision, he has made many tough decisions in the pas and there's never any guarantees anyway, but I trust Leon's decision and I hope it pays off this weekend."