Ward loses as Lithuania draw level
Date published :
07 Mar 2010 - 14:28:09
Britain's hopes of avoiding their most embarrassing Davis Cup defeat will fall on the shoulders of teenager Dan Evans after James Ward's 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 6-4 loss to Lithuanian number one Ricardas Berankis in Sunday's first singles rubber.
Both players had their openings in what proved to be the final set but again it was the Lithuanian who broke through, in the seventh game, and this time he had no trouble clinching victory to draw his country level at 2-2.
Defeat for Britain in Vilnius would be a new low, against a country with only three world-ranked singles players and whose team is made up entirely of teenagers.
Evans should come out on top against Laurynas Grigelis, who is ranked 269 places below him at 521 in the world and is playing for the third consecutive day.
But the 19-year-old from Birmingham's Davis Cup record currently reads: played three, lost three. And, when the pressure was on in the deciding rubber against Poland last year, he failed to win a set.
