And as we speak the Lithuanian TA are preparing the slowest clay mix known to man, still good news for Wardy then he should be a shoe in. I assume the tie will be held in doors though as its early march?

It looks like their no. 2 Grigelis got dropped this year after losing singles rubbers to both Estonia and Moldova in their Group 3 promotion campaign in 2008, because Berankis and Sabeckis have played the main live rubbers this year, though Sabveckis lost to Kavcic in Slovenia and to Chikhladze at home to Georgia, so he hasn't got a stellar record either!

Preview

Here's a bit more info on Lithuania's three players in the top 1000. As you'll gather, Berankis and Grigelis are young up and coming players who are probably under-ranked at the moment. Hence they may be more of a threat than they appear at first sight, as Flembo found out to his cost in Binghamton and lots of Brits found out to their cost in Wrexham, though they certainly aren't clay court specialists which may mean we avoid the slow stuff.

They have a combined 16-4 record against our players in singles, though obviously that's mainly against players who won't be in our DC team.


Ricardas Berankis (19 years old, right-handed, only 1.73m tall) prefers hard and hardly ever plays on clay these days.

Singles WR 432 (CH 416 last month)
Doubles WR 1577 (CH 759 in Mar 09)

5-0 v Brits:

Beat Adam Hunt 0 & 0 in Sarasota Challenger qualifying (clay) May 09
Shocked Slabba 2 & 2 in Tallahassee Challenger qualifying (hard) Apr 09
Shocked Slabba 4 & 5 in Baton Rouge Challenger (hard) in Apr 09
Beat Christopher Herbert 0 & 1 in Portugal F3 qualifying (hard) in Mar 07
Beat Alan Wright 4 & 1 in Spain F13 (clay) in May 06

A former world junior no. 1 (Dec 07), he also thrashed Evo 2 & 0 in the Canadian Open Junior Championships in 2007 just after reaching the Wimbledon Junior semis and he won the Orange Bowl at the end of that year, beating Grigor Dimitrov 3 & 2 in the Final.


Laurynas Grigelis (18 years old, right-handed)

Singles WR 642 (at CH)
Doubles WR 1063 (at CH)

8-2 v Brits:

Won the Wrexham Future (on hard courts) earlier this month, beating Pauffley, Milton, Illingworth and Rice, all in straight sets, then lost to Tim Bradshaw in R1 in Nottingham this week!

Shocked Flembo 5 & 4 in Binghamton Challenger qualifying (hard) in Aug 09
Beat the Wardinator 3 & 1 in GBR F9 (grass) in Jul 09
Lost to Flembo 3 & 3 in Izmir Challenger qualifying (hard) in May 09
Beat Dan Cox 1 & 3 in Croatia F2 qualifying (hard) in Feb 09
Beat Paul Bishop in 3 sets in Latvia F1 (clay) in Jul 07


Gvidas Sabeckis (25 years old, right-handed, 1.81 m tall)

Singles WR 672 (CH 488 in Nov 08)
Doubles WR 909 (CH 548 in Oct 08)

Sabeckis is Lithuania's clay court specialist but is on a 9-match losing streak at the moment.

3-2 v Brits:

Beat Benjamin George Levi 2 & 6 in Uganda F1 (clay) in Nov 07
Beat James Feaver 4 & 3 in Rwanda F1 (clay) in Nov 07
Beat David Brewer 4-6 7-6(5) 7-5 in Rwanda F1 (clay) in Nov 07
Lost to Edward Seator in 3 sets in Poland F8 (clay) in Aug 07
Lost to Ross Connolly in 3 sets in Switzerland F1 qualifying (carpet) in Feb 07


-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 23rd of September 2009 11:00:25 AM

DC records:

Berankis 5-4 in singles (3-4 on clay, 2-0 on hard), 0-2 in doubles both on clay, but 1-2 and 0-1 at Group 2 level.

Grigelis 0-2 in singles, 0-1 in doubles, all on clay at Group 3 level.

Sabeckis 11-7 in singles (10-6 on clay, 1-0 on carpet, 0-1 on hard), 12-14 in doubles (11-11 on clay, 1-2 on carpet, 0-1 on hard), but 0-2 and 0-1 at Group 2 level.

Those aren't exactly great records given the countries they've been playing recently.

Of course, the most famous tennis player of Lithuanian extraction ever was Vitas Gerulaitis, and who did he beat in the AO Final to win his one and only grand slam title? That'll be John Lloyd then ...

Will NOT be outdoor clay in March.....unless they want to play in woolly jumpers

5th March this year the max temp in Kaunas was 5 degrees c and that was higher than the daily average of -3 and the record low of -13.

We can safely say it will be indoors.

I dont think we should be hanging Evo out to dry after one tie. They need to give him another chance IMO. I think Lloyd would even consider Boggo if it meant getting out of this bloody division !

Lithuania actually does sound quite tempting. 

I've always fancied visiting some of the Baltic countries, I believe some very nice sights 

Drew's prices sound good anyway, I take it that they at least include a seat 

Would be much nearer the event before I'd know if it was on, but you never know