Ward wins to pave way for Fleming in doubles

DEBUTANT James Ward and team-mate Dan Evans enjoyed contrasting fortunes as Great Britain and Lithuania shared the points on the opening day of their Davis Cup clash in Vilnius.

Ward, the 23-year-old son of a London cabbie, cruised to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Lithuanian number two Laurynas Grigelis to give Britain the perfect start to the Europe/Africa Zone Group II tie at the Seb Arena.

It was the first win in a live rubber for Britain by anyone other than Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski or Andy Murray in 13 years, and was just what was required by his side as they attempted to stave off an embarrassing defeat.

However, Evans was unable to keep the momentum going as he went down 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 in his first five-set match to former world junior champion Ricardas Berankis.

With the tie even at 1-1, Linlithgow's Colin Fleming hopes to secure a crucial point for Great Britain when he lines up alongside doubles partner Ken Skupski in Lithuania today, ahead of tomorrow's final singles matches.

A year ago Fleming and Liverpudlian Skupski were ranked outside the world's top 100, but an impressive series of results has seen then climb to 41, and they will start as favourites against Grigelis and Dovydas Sakinis.

Fleming said: "Training's gone well all week, Ken and I have been playing together so we know each other's games inside out, it's a proud moment for us to be in position to represent GB together. We'll go into the match as favourites, which obviously doesn't guarantee a win, so we need to play our best tennis and get the win for the team.

"I think it's going to be a pretty partisan crowd, but that's great, you'd rather play with that than no noise at all, so I'm looking forward to it, and hopefully we can keep the noise down a bit if we play well."

After what proved a comfortable victory, Ward noted: "Obviously your first Davis Cup match is always a big win, and I'm glad I got through it. He had played Davis Cup before but I'm confident in my own ability and I'm serving well, which on a fast court like this is tough to break at any time, so I'm very happy."

Ward broke the Grigelis serve in the ninth game of the first set and, despite a struggle, closed it out. He repeated the feat in the opening game of the second and never looked back.

Although Grigelis kept pace early on in the third set, he could not hold out as the Briton broke his serve in the seventh game before serving out the match.