GB pegged back in Vilnius

Evans fails to build on Ward triumph

Ward: Dream debut

Great Britain ended the opening day of their Europe/Africa Zone Group II Davis Cup tie with Lithuania level at 1-1 after a mixed start in Vilnius.

Debutant James Ward gave the visitors an early lead with a straight-sets victory, however team-mate Dan Evans failed to build on the strong start, losing a five-set epic later in the day.

Ward, 23, cruised to a 6-4 6-2 6-4 victory over Lithuanian number two Laurynas Grigelis to become the first Britain other than Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski or Andy Murray to win a live rubber in 13 years.

After squandering two break-points in the third game of the first set, Ward finally got his nose in front when he converted his fifth break point to lead 5-4.

Ability

However, for the first time, Grigelis put the Englishman under pressure as he tried to win the first set, and it took him six attempts to close it out.

The Briton maintained the momentum and broke in the opening game of the second set, which he went on to take 6-2, and then broke again in the seventh game of the third set to ease over the finishing line.

Speaking after the match Ward told www.lta.org.uk: "It was a big win. 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."

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

The defeat against the former world junior champion leaves the tie finely balanced going into Saturday's doubles.