A delighted Dan Evans ended his losing run at the Davis Cup finals in Madrid with victory over Jan-Lennard Struff to send Great Britain through to the semi-finals for the third time in five years.

Evans had lost his first two singles matches against Dutchman Robin Haase and Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan from a set up but refused to accept the same fate against world number 35 Struff.

With Andy Murray, who was again left out of the side, cheering on from the sidelines, Evans withstood pressure in the third set to come through a deciding tie-break and win 7-6 (6) 4-6 7-6 (2).

Coupled with another impressive win by Kyle Edmund, who defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 7-5, Evans' victory was enough to seal the tie for Britain without the need for a deciding doubles rubber.

Earlier, Novak Djokovic's Serbia were knocked out after a dramatic quarter-final loss to Russia in Madrid.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic

The world number two levelled the tie with an impressive 6-3 6-3 victory over Karen Khachanov in singles after Andrey Rublev had thumped Filip Krajinovic 6-1 6-2.

With the tie coming down to a deciding doubles rubber, Djokovic was subbed in to partner Viktor Troicki against Khachanov and Rublev, but it was the Russians who came out on top 6-4 4-6 7-6 (8).

There was more concern, meanwhile, about Djokovic's troublesome right elbow.

Having tweaked it during the ATP Finals but insisted it was nothing to worry about, Djokovic winced in pain and dropped his racket after hitting a backhand at 4-2 in the second set of the doubles.

He received treatment at the next change of ends before taking a medical timeout later in the set.

The second set brought what had been a somewhat flat encounter - not helped by another underwhelming crowd - to life.

Troicki, in particular, was furious with two decisions by the umpire after erroneous line calls and argued his case vociferously.

Djokovic, meanwhile, whacked a ball angrily into the crowd after one call contributed to his serve being broken, but the Serbians won the set to level the match when Khachanov double-faulted.

With no breaks of serve in the third set, it all came down to a deciding tie-break. Serbia had three chances to clinch victory but could not take any of them, with Troicki dumping a volley horribly long on the last.

Russia were not so charitable, needing just one match point to book a semi-final date with Canada on Saturday.