Brits take lead in crucial tie

Britain have a fighting chance to retain their place in the Euro / Africa Group II tie and start to build towards promotion upward over the coming months.

With victory in the doubles rubber against Lithuania, Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski have become the first successful pair to win a doubles rubber since 2007 to give Britain a crucial 2-1 lead in Vilnius with two rubbers to play.

After James Ward's win and Dan Evans' defeat on Friday, the middle rubber was set to play a major role in deciding the final outcome, as it inevitably does in any Davis Cup tie.

The British pair got off to a flying start against Laurynas Grigelis and Dovydas Sakinis - but the hosts upped their game and in the end 'Flemski', as the Britisg pair are populkarly knoiwn, were relieved to come through 6-0 6-7(2) 7-5 6-3.

Lithuania captain Remigijus Balzekas had hinted he could give a debut to 15-year-old Lukas Mugevicius, but in the end he opted for Grigelis and Sakinis - hardly veterans at 18 and 17 respectively.

Fleming and Skupski were always the more experienced having won two doubles tournaments on the ATP Tour last year and got the better4 of the Bryan twins at Queen's.

Fleming made his Davis Cup debut in a five-set loss against Ukraine alongside Ross Hutchins last year, but for Skupski this was a first Davis Cup experience.

They could not have made a better start, breaking Sakinis to love in the first game, and two more breaks ensured they wrapped up the opening set in only 19 minutes.

If Britain thought they were in for an easy afternoon they were quickly proved wrong, though. Grigelis held for the first time to steady the home pair's nerves and Fleming was forced to save three break points at 2-3.

Skupski then found himself in trouble on his serve at 5-6 but Lithuania could not take advantage of two set points.

However, they raced into a 5-0 lead in the tie-break and this time there was no way back for captain John Lloyd's men as the hosts took it 7-2 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.

The Lithuanian, beaten by Ward in the singles 24 hours earlier, then came under pressure in the fourth game of the fourth set but two break points came and went for Britain.

There was no doubt the momentum had swung again, though, and Sakinis could not repeat the trick in their next service game as Fleming and Skupski moved to the brink of victory.

Scot Fleming confidently held his delivery and, although three match points went begging on the Grigelis serve, Skupski made no mistake to seal a vital victory.

For captain John Lloyd it couldn't have been better in more ways than one. The pair had proved to him that they had the nerve to remain calm and collected when the pressure was on them

 He said: "Ken and Colin could have panicked. They knew we had to win the doubles and that the pressure was as all on them."

And that has increased now that Lithuania are behind and on current form, it looks as if the tie will be decided in the fifth rubber when Evans takes on Grigelis.