Kyle Edmund beats Janko Tipsarevic as Great Britain take Davis Cup lead against Serbia

Kyle Edmund defied awful weather conditions in Belgrade to beat Janko Tipsarevic and give Great Britain the lead in their Davis Cup quarter-final against Serbia.

The 21-year-old Yorkshireman, at 67 the highest ranked player in the tie, has taken on the role of British No 1 for the week and handled the situation superbly to win 6-3 6-4 6-0 and post his first victory in the competition.

Much of the match at the amphitheatre-like Tasmajdan Stadium took place in the rain and there were two lengthy breaks.

Tipsarevic, a former top-10 player who has missed most of the last two-and-a-half years through injury, was clearly exasperated by the situation, and Edmund exploited that to the full.

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, in Belgrade to support his team-mates after deciding the schedule was too tight for him to play, led the cheerleading from the sidelines.

The promised rain arrived just before the scheduled start of play at 4pm.

The initial delay was only a few minutes, but Edmund and Tipsarevic had managed just three nervy games on the slow clay court when it began to rain heavily.

After an hour off court the players returned, and Edmund used the extra power in his forehand to break serve straight away.

Tipsarevic spent the better part of two-and-a-half years off the tour before returning in April following two operations to remove a benign tumour in his left heel and then right knee surgery.

The 32-year-old, once ranked as high as eighth in the world, has only won seven matches since 2013 and his shots lacked conviction.

Edmund served out the set to love and then broke again to start the second set. There were some signs of encouragement for Tipsarevic when he forced two break points in the next game, but Edmund held on.

The rain was falling heavily again and, although umpire Pascal Maria initially dismissed protestations from Tipsarevic, who wears glasses, they stopped after only three points of the third game.

It seemed unlikely that play would restart, but it did at 7.50pm local time. The rain soon returned, but on they played and a disgruntled Tipsarevic won only five points in the third set.

In the second rubber James Ward's match against Dusan Lajovic will now take place on Saturday morning at 10am before the doubles match later in the day with the reverse singles taking place on Sunday.