Lloyd 'devastated' as Britain suffer Davis Cup humiliation in Lithuania

Published on Sunday 7 March 2010 23:16

BRITISH tennis hit a another low yesterday with defeat by Lithuania in the Davis Cup.

After James Ward's loss to Ricardas Berankis earlier in the day, the result came down to the last singles rubber between Dan Evans and Laurynas Grigelis – a player ranked 269 places below the Birmingham teenager at 521 in the world and who has never played a match on the ATP World Tour.

Evans recovered from a nightmare third set to force a decider but it was not enough as 18-year-old Grigelis triumphed 6-7 (6/8), 7-5, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.

Lithuania, with only three world-ranked singles players and a team made up entirely of teenagers, were ecstatic at the most famous result in their history. British skipper John Lloyd, meanwhile, was left to contemplate his future in the role after becoming the first GB captain to oversee five successive defeats. To put matters in perspective, Lithuania spends around 100,000 a year on tennis, the LTA, in comparison, spends more than 40 million.

Britain must now beat Turkey, who lost to Ireland this weekend, in a relegation play-off in July to avoid dropping to Europe/Africa Zone Group III – the lowest tier of the competition.

Lloyd admitted afterwards he was "devastated" by the outcome. "I'm devastated for the team and more so Dan, as I thought he worked his butt off," Lloyd said.

"I felt sorry for him more than anybody else. We'll see about my future, it's too early yet."

Lloyd had to do without British No1 Andy Murray for the tie and added: "We obviously didn't have our number one playing and that was certainly an evening-out point. It was a 50/50 sort of match before the start, and they were the better team.

"They don't have as many players to pick from as we do but their players are good."

Evans and Lloyd both chose to pay tribute to Grigelis for an apparently nerveless performance.

"Grigelis was at times stunning," said Lloyd. "His backhand was absolutely brilliant. If I was going to (pick out] one shot that turned the match, it was at 2-1 in the fifth, break point, and he had a backhand that hit both lines. It was not a percentage shot that even a top-20 player would go for. But he went for it and made it. I thought he was absolutely brilliant."

Evans, who has now lost all four of his Davis Cup rubbers, added: "I didn't think he could play that good for five sets but he did."

Ward had beaten Grigelis comfortably in the opening rubber on Friday but, a couple of break points aside, Evans was unable to unduly trouble his opponent in the first set.

The tie-break looked to be slipping away when the 18-year-old Lithuanian won four points in a row to lead 6-4 but a gutsy point from Evans allowed him to retrieve the mini-break and he held his nerve to serve out for a one-set lead. Grigelis claimed the first break of the match to move 6-5 ahead in the second set before confidently serving out a love game to make it one set all.

Evans was suddenly on the back foot and was broken three times as Grigelis raced through the third set. The British No 4 responded, breaking three times in set four to level the match. But this was the biggest match of Grigelis' life and he was determined not to let it slip away. And some stunning shots from the Lithuanian gave him the first break of the decider in the fifth game.

The luckiest of net cords helped Evans save a first match point on his own serve at 3-5 and he looked set to take full advantage when he moved 0-40 ahead with his opponent serving for the match.

But again Evans was found wanting when it really counted and a delighted Grigelis celebrated a landmark victory.

With Britain leading 2-1 overnight, hopes were high Ward would be able to seal the tie in the day's first match by upsetting Berankis, who is a former world junior No 1 and, at 198, ranked substantially higher than either of Britain's representatives. But it was not to be as the 19-year-old Lithuanian held his nerve impeccably in a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-4 victory, breaking Ward once in the second and third sets.

The British No 3, who was playing in his first Davis Cup tie, felt he was unfortunate to come out on the wrong side of a close match.

He said: "It came down to a few points. He served really well. I served well but I could have done a bit more on the return and make him play a few more points. But there was not much in it, just two breaks. It's tough."

Britain did have the edge going into yesterday's action after Scotland's Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski had put the visitors into a 2-1 lead with a four-set doubles win on Saturday. The British pair got off to a flying start against Grigelis and Dovydas Sakinis but the hosts upped their game and in the end 'Flemski' were relieved to come through 6-0, 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 6-3.

Fleming and Skupski made a decent start and they wrapped up the opening set in just 19 minutes, but they were pegged back when the hosts won the tie-break 7-2 in the second to level the match.

The third set quickly adopted a similar pattern, with chances at a premium for both teams. Fleming recovered from 0-30 serving at 5-5 and the British pair took full advantage in the next game. Grigelis swiftly found himself at 0-40 and, although he saved one set point, a double fault on the next put the visitors within one set of victory.

Fleming and Skupski moved to the brink of victory when they took the third set 7-5, and they sealed the win 6-3 in the next.

But if Great Britain thought claiming that crucial middle rubber on Saturday would be the springboard to success yesterday then they were very much mistaken. Instead the players must now pencil a relegation play-off date in July into their diaries.

RESULTS

Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group 2

Lithuania v Great Britain

(Seb Arena, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Rubber 1: James Ward (Gbr) bt Laurynas Gregelis (Lit) 6-4 6-2 6-4

Rubber 2: Ricardas Berankis (Ltu) bt Daniel Evans (Gbr) 6-1 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3

Rubber 3: Colin Fleming (Gbr) & Ken Skupski (Gbr) bt Laurynas Gregelis (Lit) & Dovydas Sakinis (Lit) 6-0 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3.

Rubber 4: Ricardas Berankis (Ltu) bt James Ward (Gbr) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-4

Rubber 5: Laurynas Gregelis (Lit) bt Daniel Evans (Gbr) 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 6-0 2-6 6-4.

Lithuania beat Great Britain 3-2