Australia ended the surprise run of Finland to reach the Davis Cup final for the second year in a row.

Finland defeated Croatia and the USA in the group stage in September to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time and then upset defending champions Canada on Tuesday.

Backed by thousands of fans in Malaga thanks to a sizeable local population of ex-pats, they hoped to continue the fairytale but found Australia too strong.

Otto Virtanen, ranked 171, had been the unlikely star of their run but he was beaten 7-6 (5) 6-2 by Alexei Popyrin, a late call-up to the Australia team and picked ahead of Jordan Thompson, in the opening match.

It was a first victory in a live rubber for the 24-year-old, who said: “It’s nerves that I have never experienced before in my life.”

The Finns were boosted by the return of their number one Emil Ruusuvuori from a shoulder injury but he was unable to capitalise on a good start against world number 12 Alex De Minaur and went down 6-4 6-3.

Australia will now try to go one better than last year’s 2-0 loss to Canada when they take on either Serbia or Italy in the final.

It is a 49th Davis Cup final for Australia but they have not lifted the trophy since 2003.

Great Britain’s hopes of reaching the Davis Cup semi-finals were hanging by a thread after Jack Draper lost the opening rubber to Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in Malaga.

Draper’s 7-6 (2) 7-6 (6) defeat left Cameron Norrie needing to hand Novak Djokovic just his seventh loss of the season to send the tie to a deciding doubles.

Serbia sprang a surprise by picking Kecmanovic, ranked five places above Draper at 55 in the world, ahead of their number two Laslo Djere, but the 24-year-old fully justified the decision with an impressive display.

Twenty-one-year-old Draper was unable to impose his big game on the match and came out on the wrong end of two tie-breaks in a contest lasting two hours and two minutes.

The tie did not get under way until 6.10pm, more than two hours later than billed, because of the over-running first match of the day between Italy and the Netherlands.

Around 5,000 British fans, including Dan Evans, who was forced out of the event through injury after playing the leading role in qualification, made up the majority of a virtually full crowd at the Palacio de Deportes Martin Carpena.

The International Tennis Federation’s decision to move away from the traditional home-and-away format and to a World Cup-style event has been unpopular with players and fans, but this was the sort of occasion they would have envisaged.

It was a huge moment for Draper, who only played his first match in the competition in September in Manchester and now found British hopes depending on him given the presence of Djokovic in the second rubber.

He could draw on better recent form than Kecmanovic, having reached his first ATP Tour final in Sofia earlier this month while the Serbian had lost his last four matches, and also won their only previous meeting on clay in May.

But Kecmanovic is a quality player who was ranked in the top 30 at the start of the year and, despite three aces in his first service game from Draper, it was the Serbian who was the more impressive in the early stages.

Draper had to dig deep to save two break points in a long eighth game and then found himself facing two set points at 4-5, which he again fought off in gutsy fashion.

But two double faults cost him dearly in the tie-break and left him with a lot of work to do to turn the match around.

Neither man faced a break point in the second set, but again it was Kecmanovic who looked the more convincing on serve.

After losing five points in a row from 2-0 up in the tie-break, Draper did well to level at 5-5 and then save a match point with a volley that just caught the line, but a wayward forehand gave Kecmanovic a second chance and this time the British youngster netted a return.

Andy Murray has been ruled out of the Great Britain team for next week’s Davis Cup finals in Malaga.

The 36-year-old former Wimbledon and US Open champion is sidelined due to a minor shoulder injury, the Lawn Tennis Association confirmed.

Britain play quarter-final opponents Serbia on November 23.

“I’ve picked up a minor shoulder injury which means I won’t be able to take part in the Davis Cup,” Murray said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“I’m gutted not to be part of the squad, but my focus is now on rehab and getting ready for the new season.”