Goodall goes down fighting as Belgium draw first blood It is said that world rankings count for little in the Davis Cup, but the challenge of bridging a gap of 185 places with Belgium's Steve Darcis proved beyond Britain's Josh Goodall in Glasgow yesterday. Goodall, the world No 253, briefly raised hopes of giving the home team a flying start in their Europe Africa Zone Group One tie at the Braehead Arena before Darcis, the world No 68, won 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The absence of Andy Murray and James Ward always meant that Britain would face an uphill task. Dan Evans, the world No 334, was facing an even tougher challenge in yesterday's second singles rubber, against Olivier Rochus, the world No 59, although Britain will start as favourites in today's doubles, in which Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins are due to take on Ruben Bemelmans and David Goffin. The winners of the tie will go through to a September play-off for a place in next year's World Group. Although the result of the opening rubber ran true to form, Goodall made a decent fight of it. The 26-year-old from Basingstoke, who had not won a set in his only previous appearance in the competition against Ukraine at the same venue three years ago, has spent most of this year playing on the Futures circuit, two levels below the main ATP tour on which Darcis is a regular. However, it was the Belgian who suffered from nerves in the early stages. Darcis hit three double faults when he served at 4-5, but saved three set points before eventually forcing a tie-break, which he lost 7-2. Goodall, who served well and used his big forehand to good effect, was frustrating Darcis to the point where the Belgian hurled his racket to the floor in frustration after missing a forehand. Nevertheless, Darcis began to make increasing inroads into Goodall's serve in the second set and the contest turned when the Belgian broke to lead 5-3. Darcis served out to level the match and then made early breaks at the start of both the third and fourth sets. To his credit, however, Goodall gritted his teeth and made Darcis work hard to win both.