Tennis: Lloyd to consider future after defeat to Lithuania

CAPTAIN John Lloyd was today considering his future after Great Britain slumped to within touching distance of the lowest tier of the Davis Cup.

Lloyd became the first GB tennis captain to oversee five successive defeats in the team competition after his young side crashed to a 3-2 defeat to Lithuania.

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

After James Ward's loss to Ricardas Berankis, the tie 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. Evans recovered from a nightmare third set to force a decider, but 18-year-old Grigelis triumphed 6-7 (6/8), 7-5, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.

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

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

Lloyd, who had to do without Andy Murray for the tie after the Australian Open finalist made himself unavailable, 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."

Ward had beaten Grigelis comfortably in the opening rubber on Friday, but Evans was unable to repeat the trick.

He won the opening set on a tie-break but lost the second 7-5 and looked dead and buried as Grigelis raced through the third set without dropping a game.

The British No.4 responded well, breaking three times in the fourth set to level the match. But some stunning shots from his opponent created the vital break of serve in the decider and Evans was unable to convert three break points as Grigelis served for the match.

With Britain leading 2-1 overnight, hopes were high Ward may have been able to seal the tie in the day's first match by upsetting Berankis, a former world junior No.1 and, at 198, ranked substantially higher than either of Britain's representatives.

But the 19-year-old Lithuanian held his nerve impeccably in a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Ward said: "It came down to a few points. He served really well. I served well as well but I could have done a bit more on the return and made him play a few more points. It's tough."