Isle of Man tennis star Billy Harris nearly pulled off the biggest win of his career so far at the United Cup in Australia on Monday.

The 30-year-old was a late replacement in the British side for GB number one Jack Draper who was forced to withdraw from the competition through injury.

The former Castletown and Albany LTC man beat world number 99 Shintaro Mochizuki in straight sets, 7/6, 6/3 in the early hours of Sunday morning to give Britain an early lead against their Japanese counterparts in Perth.

Team-mate Katie Swan – herself a late replacement for British number one Emma Raducanu - lost her singles match to the returning Naomi Osaka.

But GB, which are being captained by Tim Henman, won the doubles to secure the victory 2-1 overall and get their campaign off to a good start.

Next up was a clash with Greece on Monday and once again Harris was on court first, this time against former world number three and current No.34, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Harris flew out of the traps and took the game to his opponent, staying composed and impressing by taking the opening set 6-4.

The second proved to be a different story as Tsitsipas gained momentum and controlled it throughout, comfortably winning 1-6.

To his credit though, Harris regrouped and came out fighting in the third and final set, pushing his opponent all the way.

With the score locked at 4-4, the islander found himself facing two break points but dug deep and clawed his way back to nudge ahead again.

Tsitsipas won the next to set up a tie-break and, despite Harris battling valiantly, it was the Greek player that held his nerve to win 4-7.