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Fleming and Skupski secure doubles win

Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski secured a valuable win for Great Britain © Getty Images

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Great Britain edged ahead in their Davis Cup tie with Lithuania as Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski claimed a 6-0 6-7(2) 7-5 6-3 win over Dovydas Sakinis and Laurynas Grigelis.

Fleming and Skupski made the ideal start, as an early break of serve went some way to lowering the decibel level of the Lithuanian fans. Skupski backed up the break with a love service game and Britain never looked back in the opening set - racing through it to love in 19 minutes.

A shell-shocked Lithuanian pair regrouped and strong serving from both pairings took the second set to a tie-break which went the way of the home side.

The third set mirrored that of the second for long spells, with both pairings strong on serve, and it seemed set to head to a tie-break until Grigelis' arm tightened and a double fault handed Britain the third set.

The loss of the third set knocked the Lithuanians' confidence and Britain claimed a vital break of Sakinis' serve before going on to claim the match and with it Britain's first doubles win in Davis Cup since Tim Henman and Jamie Murray won against Croatia at Wimbledon in September 2007.

Coach John Lloyd was full of praise for his doubles pair for holding their nerve at crucial times. "There was a time there for a set and three quarters when their players served with a very high percentage and were painting the lines," Lloyd said. "They went for broke and frankly our boys could have panicked but they had to concentrate on holding their own serve.

"I told them that sooner or later the chances would come and they eventually did. After the first set when the opposition were nervous I thought it was going to be easy - but Davis Cup rarely works out like that."

Britain now hold a 2-1 lead and a win for either Dan Evans or Jamie Ward in the reverse singles will clinch the tie.

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