Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury were unable to prevent a 2-1 defeat for Great Britain against the United States in their opening group-stage game in the Davis Cup.
The doubles pair were edged out 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 by Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock in a match that went on until the early hours in Glasgow, Scotland.
Earlier, Dan Evans was beaten 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 by Tommy Paul as the U.S. took the lead, before Cameron Norrie kept Britain alive in the tie with a 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 win against Taylor Fritz.
Murray and Salisbury made a fast start in their match, battling to win the first set, but the Americans rallied from 3-1 down to take the second set and eventually won the deciding set at 12.58am BST.
Murray expressed his concern at matches finishing late in his postmatch comments.
“We’ve seen it obviously at the US Open even just last week,” Murray, 35, said. “It’s something that tennis needs to sort of have a bit of a think about. I don’t think it looks that professional.”
Britain will look to recover when they face the Netherlands on Friday and Kazakhstan on Sunday, with only the top two nations from each group making it to the November finals in Malaga, Spain.