Lithuania Davis Cup team

Lithuania
Captain	Rimvydas Mugevičius
ITF ranking	38 10 (20 September 2021)
Highest ITF ranking	38 (20 September 2021)
Colors	Green & White
First year	1994
Years played	21
Ties played (W–L)	81 (48 – 33)
Best finish	Europe/Africa Zone Group I first round (2015)
Most total wins	Rolandas Muraška (56)
Most singles wins	Rolandas Muraška (37)
Most doubles wins	Rolandas Muraška (19)
Best doubles team	Daniel Lencina-Ribes & Gvidas Sabeckis (6)
Most ties played	Rolandas Muraška (49)
Most years played	Rolandas Muraška (12)

The Lithuania men's national tennis team represents Lithuania in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Lithuanian Tennis Association.

Lithuania has never been a tennis country – no tennis player from Lithuania entered ATP top 500 until 2008. However, the situation is changing in recent years. Currently young Lithuanian players are winning the greatest tennis victories in the history of Lithuania. As expected, this led to the increasing popularity of tennis in the country. Now, Lithuania has a few very high quality players.

In 2012 Lithuania competed in the third group of Davis Cup, where they won all three ties and got promoted to the second group. It played seven times there. Also, it has competed in the third group for 13 times. And once have been promoted to group one, where Lithuania team is currently playing.

Current Team (2015)

Player information and rankings as of 8 March 2015 ^[update]

Squad representing Lithuania vs. Poland (2015 Europe/Africa Group 1 First Round)

Player	Current singles ranking	Current doubles ranking	First year played	Ties played	Total W–L	Singles W–L	Doubles W–L
Ričardas Berankis	76	553	2007	13	17–9	14–5	3–4
Laurynas Grigelis	361	132	2008	9	7–9	4–7	3–2
Lukas Mugevičius	642	417	2010	6	3–7	2–4	1–3
Mantas Bugailiškis (young player)	N/A	N/A	2013	1	0–1	0–0	0–1

Other Players

• Julius Tverijonas
• Benas Majauskas

History

Lithuania started its Davis Cup history in 1994 with competing in the Europe and Africa zone of Group III.

Present

Lithuania started 2009 Davis Cup with their first ever victory in Group II. In the first round, Lithuania defeated Georgia 3–2 ^[1] in front of a home crowd in a recently built SEB arena. All work was done by the youngest members of the Lithuanian team – 18-year-old Ričardas Berankis won both of his singles matches ^{[2] [3]} and 16-year-old Dovydas Šakinis defeated the leader of Georgian team Irakli Labadze in the decisive rubber. ^[4] For the second round match-up, Lithuania went to Otočec to play against Slovenia. However, the Slovenian team with Grega Žemlja and Blaž Kavčič was too strong for Lithuania, which managed to win only one set in five matches, and the tie ended 0–5. ^{[5] [6]}

In 2010 Lithuania had its better performance. For the first round match-up Lithuania drew the top seeded British team in Lithuania. With James Ward defeating Laurynas Grigelis, Great Britain winning the doubles match and Berankis winning both of his singles matches the tie came to the decisive rubber. Grigelis won a five-setter against Daniel Evans ^[7] and against all odds Lithuania celebrated a 3–2 ^[8] victory over Great Britain. ^{[9] [10]} Lithuania's next round was against Irish team led by Conor Niland and James McGee in Dublin. Lithuania celebrated after the second day when Berankis and Grigelis won the first three matches and secured the tie. ^[11] Ireland managed to win the remaining dead rubbers with Lithuania winning the tie 3–2. ^{[12] [13]} In the third round Lithuania had a rematch of last year's tie against Slovenia, only this time Slovenian team came to Vilnius. The best two Lithuanian tennis players Berankis and Grigelis represented Lithuania in all five matches but they managed to win only two of them – Berankis defeated Blaž Kavčič in the first rubber and Lithuania came back from two sets to love down in the doubles match. Eventually, Lithuania ended up losing 2–3 ^[14] and Slovenia was promoted to the first group. ^[15]

Lithuania came into the 2011 Davis Cup with high hopes but the dreams were crashed in the first round tie against Estonia in Tallinn. During the second rubber Grigelis got a knee injury and not only lost the match but also had to skip the remaining tie. ^[16] Grigelis was replaced by Dovydas Šakinis who was still recovering from pneumonia so couldn't play his best tennis. Although Berankis won both of his singles matches, ^[17] Lithuania lost the tie 2–3. ^{[18] [19]} The fourth rubber between Berankis and Jürgen Zopp took 3 hours 46 minutes and it was the longest rubber for both teams in their histories. After the first round loss Lithuania faced a relegation play-off against Morocco in Vilnius, where neither Berankis ^[20] nor Grigelis ^[21] helped Lithuania. The Lithuanian team, with only one ranked player and all players being under 19, lost to Morocco 0-5 ^{[22] [23]} which led to the relegation to the third group for the following year.

In 2012, Lithuania was competing in Group III. In the group stage Lithuania defeated Andorra and San Marino without losing a set. For the promotion play-off Lithuania faced the Greek team. In the first rubber Grigelis lost a tough match to Theodoros Angelinos but Berankis restored the parity by defeating Paris Gemouchidis. In the decisive rubber, Lithuanian leaders won a doubles match and the tie ended 2–1. Lithuania got promoted to the Group II for the following year. ^[24]

In 2013, Lithuania was drawn to play against Cyprus in the first round of the Europe/Africa Zone Group II.

In 2014 Lithuania team defeated South Africa, Norway and Bosnia and Herzegovina and was promoted to Europe/Africa Zone Group I for the first time in 2015.

Statistics

• Total record 45–33 (58%)

Head-to-head record

•   Algeria 0–1
•   Andorra 2–1
•   Angola 1–0
•   Armenia 2–1
•   Azerbaijan 1–0
•   Bosnia and Herzegovina 3–2
•   Botswana 2–0
•   Congo 1–0
•   Ivory Coast 0–1
•   Cyprus 3–0
•   Egypt 0–3
•   Estonia 1–6
•   Ethiopia 1–0
•   Georgia 2–0
•   Greece 1–0
•   Ghana 1–1
•   Great Britain 1–0
•   Hungary 0–1
•   Iceland 3–0
•   Ireland 1–1
•   Kenya 2–0
•   Latvia 0–1
•   Luxembourg 0–1
•   Macedonia 1–1
•   Madagascar 2–0
•   Malta 1–0
•   Morocco 0–1
•   Moldova 2–2
•   Monaco 1–2
•   Namibia 2–0
•   Nigeria 1–0
•   Norway 1–0
•   Poland 0–1
•   Portugal 0–1
•   San Marino 2–0
•   Senegal 1–0
•   Slovakia 0–1
•   Slovenia 0–2
•   Sudan 1–0
•   Tunisia 2–0
•   Turkey 2–2
•   FR Yugoslavia 0–1

Group record

• Europe/Africa zone group II 4–11 (27%)
• Europe/Africa zone group III 41–22 (65%)

Home and away record

Group II:

• Performance in Lithuania 3–6 (33%)
• Performance away 1–5 (17%)

Group III:

• Performance in Lithuania 2–2 (50%)
• Performance away 39–20 (66%)

Surface record

• Carpet courts 3–5 (38%)
• Clay courts 30–23 (57%)
• Grass courts 0–0 (-%)
• Hard courts 12–5 (71%)

Matches record

• Singles 108–78 (58%)
• Doubles 70–80 (47%)
• Total 178–158 (53%)

Statistics correct as of the end of the season in 2013.

All players

Player	Highest singles ranking	Highest doubles ranking	First year played	Years played	Ties played	Total W–L	Singles W–L	Doubles W–L
Aivaras Balžekas	926	939	1999	5	19	10–13	9–12	1–1
Ričardas Berankis	67	285	2007	6	13	17–9	14–5	3–4
Mantas Bugailiškis	N/A	N/A	2013	1	1	0–1	0–0	0–1
Eugenijus Cariovas	N/A	N/A	2006	2	8	8–5	2–3	6–2
Mindaugas Čeledinas	N/A	N/A	2006	2	3	0–4	0–1	0–3
Artūras Gotovskis	N/A	N/A	2005	1	2	1–1	0–1	1–0
Julius Gotovskis	N/A	N/A	2011	1	1	0–1	0–1	0–0
Laurynas Grigelis	183	132	2008	4	9	7–9	4–7	3–2
Denis Ivancovas	N/A	N/A	1994	3	8	7–4	2–2	5–2
Paulius Jurkėnas	N/A	1,434	2000	2	5	1–4	0–0	1–4
Aurimas Karpavičius	N/A	N/A	2003	1	2	0–2	0–1	0–1
Daniel Lencina-Ribes	591	671	2005	5	20	19–9	11–4	8–5
Gitanas Mažonas	N/A	N/A	1994	4	13	10–7	7–4	3–3
Lukas Mugevičius	N/A	1,513	2010	4	6	3–7	2–4	1–3
Rolandas Muraška	575	1,100	1994	12	49	56–32	37–12	19–20
Tomas Petrauskas	N/A	N/A	1998	1	2	2–1	1–0	1–1
Vadim Pinko	N/A	N/A	2009	1	1	0–1	0–0	0–1
Denis Riabuchin	N/A	N/A	2006	1	2	0–2	0–0	0–2
Arūnas Rozga	N/A	N/A	1999	2	8	4–4	0–0	4–4
Gvidas Sabeckis	488	548	2002	8	31	23–21	11–7	12–14
Dovydas Šakinis	808	1,214	2009	5	10	4–8	3–5	1–3
Aistis Šlajus	1,346	1,434	1998	3	11	6–10	4–7	2–3
Julius Tverijonas	1,418	N/A	2011	1	1	0–1	0–1	0–0
Giedrius Vėželis	N/A	N/A	1994	1	3	1–2	1–0	0–2
Kasparas Žemaitėlis	N/A	N/A	2013	1	1	0–1	0–1	0–0

Data correct as of May 13, 2013.

Results

1994–1999

Year	Group	Team	Round	Date	Location	Surface	Opponent	Score	Outcome
1994	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Denis Ivancovas, Gitanas Mažonas, Rolandas Muraška, Giedrius Vėželis, Team capitan: Remigijus Balžekas	RR	18 May	Bratislava, Slovakia	Clay	Tunisia	3–0	Won
			RR	19 May			Cyprus	2–1	Won
			RR	20 May			Congo	3–0	Won
			1R	21 May			Malta	2–1	Won
			F	22 May			Slovakia	0–3	Lost
1995	Europe/Africa Zone Group II	Denis Ivancovas, Gitanas Mažonas, Rolandas Muraška, Team capitan: Remigijus Balžekas	1R	28–30 April	Šiauliai, Lithuania	Carpet (i)	Luxembourg	1–4	Lost
			PO	14–16 July	Vilnius, Lithuania	Clay	Poland	1–4	Lost
1996	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Eugenius Cariovas, Denis Ivancovas, Gitanas Mažonas, Rolandas Muraška, Team capitan: Remigijus Balžekas	RR	21 May	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Iceland	3–0	Won
			RR	22 May			Ethiopia	3–0	Won
			RR	23 May			San Marino	3–0	Won
			RR	24 May			Azerbaijan	3–0	Won
			RR	25 May			Sudan	3–0	Won
			RR	26 May			Senegal	3–0	Won
1997	Europe/Africa Zone Group II	Eugenijus Cariovas, Rolandas Muraška, Team capitan: Gracijus Remeikis	1R	2–4 May	Vilnius, Lithuania	Carpet (i)	FR Yugoslavia	2–3	Lost
			PO	11–14 July	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Egypt	2–3	Lost
1998	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Rolandas Muraška, Tomas Petrauskas, Aistis Šlajus, Team capitan: Gracijus Remeikis	RR	20 May	Skopje, Macedonia	Clay	Moldova	1–2	Lost
			RR	21 May			Tunisia	3–0	Won
			RR	22 May			Macedonia	2–1	Won
			1R	23 May			Turkey	2–1	Lost
			F	24 May			Nigeria	2–1	Won
1999	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Aivaras Balžekas, Rolandas Muraška, Arūnas Rozga, Aistis Šlajus, Team capitan: Gracijus Remeikis	RR	9 June	Tallinn, Estonia	Clay	Armenia	1–2	Lost
			RR	10 June			Georgia	2–1	Won
			RR	11 June			Kenya	2–1	Won
			1R	12 June			Moldova	2–1	Won
			F	13 June			Estonia	1–2	Lost

2000–2009

Year	Group	Team	Round	Date	Location	Surface	Opponent	Score	Outcome
2000	Europe/Africa Zone Group II	Aivaras Balžekas, Rolandas Muraška, Paulius Jurkėnas	1R	28–30 April	Šiauliai, Lithuania	Carpet (i)	Ivory Coast	2–3	Lost
			PO	21–23 July	Izmir, Turkey	Hard	Turkey	1–4	Lost
2001	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Rolandas Muraška, Arūnas Rozga, Aistis Šlajus, Playing capitan: Gitanas Mažonas	RR	16 May	Gaborone, Botswana	Hard	Iceland	3–0	Won
			RR	17 May			Botswana	2–1	Won
			RR	18 May			Ghana	1–2	Lost
			1R	19 May			Latvia	1–2	Lost
			F	20 May			Madagascar	2–1	Won
2002	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Aivaras Balžekas, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Playing capitan: Gitanas Mažonas	RR	3 April	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Andorra	1–2	Lost
			RR	4 April			Namibia	3–0	Won
			RR	5 April			Monaco	0–3	Lost
			PO	6 April			Botswana	3–0	Won
			PO	7 April			Iceland	3–0	Won
2003	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Aivaras Balžekas, Aurimas Karpavičius, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Gitanas Mažonas	RR	3 February	Sidi Fredj, Algeria	Clay	Armenia	3–0	Won
			RR	4 February			Angola	2–1	Won
			RR	5 February			Algeria	1–2	Lost
			PO	6 February			Hungary	0–3	Lost
			PO	7 February			Estonia	1–2	Lost
2004	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Aivaras Balžekas, Paulius Jurkėnas, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas Mugevičius	RR	4 February	Kaunas, Lithuania	Carpet (i)	Cyprus	2–1	Won
			RR	6 February			Estonia	1–2	Lost
			PO	7 February			Monaco	2–1	Won
			PO	8 February			Macedonia	1–2	Lost
2005	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Artūras Gotovskis, Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Rolandas Muraška, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas Mugevičius	RR	27 April	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–1	Won
			RR	28 April			Madagascar	3–0	Won
			RR	29 April			Egypt	1–2	Lost
			PO	30 April			Kenya	3–0	Won
			PO	1 May			Namibia	2–1	Won
2006	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Mindaugas Čeledinas, Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Denis Riabuchin, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas Mugevičius	RR	19 July	Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Clay	Andorra	3–0	Won
			RR	20 July			Estonia	1–2	Lost
			RR	21 July			Armenia	2–1	Won
			PO	22 July			Turkey	2–1	Won
			PO	23 July			Monaco	0–3	Lost
2007	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Ričardas Berankis, Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Simas Kučas, Gvidas Sabeckis, Team capitan: Rimvydas Mugevičius	RR	9 May	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Ireland	1–2	Lost
			RR	10 May			Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–1	Won
			RR	11 May			Moldova	2–1	Won
			PO	12 May			Turkey	2–1	Won
			PO	13 May			Egypt	1–2	Lost
2008	Europe/Africa Zone Group III	Mindaugas Čeledinas, Laurynas Grigelis, Gvidas Sabeckis, Playing capitan: Daniel Lencina-Ribes	RR	7 May	Yerevan, Armenia	Clay	Estonia	1–2	Lost
			RR	8 May			Ghana	3–0	Won
			RR	9 May			Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–1	Won
			PO	10 May			Norway	2–1	Won
			PO	11 May			Moldova	0–3	Lost
2009	Europe/Africa Zone Group II	Ričardas Berankis, Vadim Pinko, Gvidas Sabeckis, Dovydas Šakinis, Team capitans: Daniel Lencina-Ribes, Remigijus Balžekas	1R	6–8 March	Vilnius, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Georgia	3–2	Won
			Q	10–12 July	Otočec, Slovenia	Clay	Slovenia	0–5	Lost

2010–

Year	Group	Team	Round	Date	Location	Surface	Opponent	Score	Outcome
2010	Europe/Africa Zone Group II	Ričardas Berankis, Laurynas Grigelis, Lukas Mugevičius, Dovydas Šakinis, Team capitan: Remigijus Balžekas	1R	5–7 March	Vilnius, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Great Britain	3–2	Won
			2R	9–11 July	Dublin, Ireland	Carpet (i)	Ireland	3–2	Won
			Q	17–19 September	Vilnius, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Slovenia	3–2	Lost
2011	Europe/Africa Zone Group II	Ričardas Berankis, Julius Gotovskis, Laurynas Grigelis, Lukas Mugevičius, Dovydas Šakinis, Julius Tverijonas, Team capitans: Remigijus Balžekas, Rimvydas Mugevičius	1R	4–6 March	Tallinn, Estonia	Hard (i)	Estonia	2–3	Lost
			PO	8–10 July	Vilnius, Lithuania	Clay	Morocco	0–5	Lost
2012	Europe Zone Group III	Ričardas Berankis, Laurynas Grigelis, Lukas Mugevičius, Dovydas Šakinis, Team capitan: Rimvydas Mugevičius	RR	3 May	Sofia, Bulgaria	Clay	San Marino	3–0	Won
			RR	4 May			Andorra	2–0	Won
			PO	5 May			Greece	2–1	Won
2013	Europe/Africa Zone Group II	Ričardas Berankis, Mantas Bugailiškis, Lukas Mugevičius, Dovydas Šakinis, Kasparas Žemaitėlis, Team capitan: Remigijus Balžekas, Rimvydas Mugevičius	1R	1–3 February	Šiauliai, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Cyprus	4–1	Won
			2R	5–7 April	Lisbon, Portugal	Clay	Portugal	0–5	Lost
2014	Europe/Africa Zone Group II		1R	31 January–2 February	Oslo, Norway	Hard (i)	Norway	5–0	Won
			2R	4–6 April	Centurion, South Africa	Hard	South Africa	3–2	Won
			3R	12–14 September	Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Hard (i)	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3–2	Won
2015	Europe/Africa Zone Group I		1R	6–8 March	Płock, Poland	Hard (i)	Poland	2–3	Lost
			1R play-offs	17–19 July	Vilnius, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Ukraine	1–4	Lost
			2R play-offs	30 October–1 November	Kranj, Slovenia	Hard (i)	Slovenia	0–5	Lost
2016	Europe/Africa Zone Group II		1R	4–6 March	Šiauliai, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Norway	3–2	Won
			2R	15–17 July	Kaunas, Lithuania	Clay	South Africa	3–2	Won
			3R	16–18 September	Vilnius, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0–5	Lost
2017	Europe/Africa Zone Group II		1R	3–5 February	Šiauliai, Lithuania	Hard (i)	Madagascar	3–2	Won
			2R	7–9 April	TBD, Georgia	Clay	Georgia

External links

• Team page on DavisCup.com, the official website of the Davis Cup

References

1. Lithuania vs. Georgia daviscup.com
2. (in Lithuanian) Lithuania vs. Georgia 1-1 Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine 15min.lt
3. (in Lithuanian) R.Berankis evened the score Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine 15min.lt
4. (in Lithuanian) D.Šakinis won the decisive match 15min.lt
5. Slovenia vs. Lithuania daviscup.com
6. (in Lithuanian) Lithuanian tennis team did not match Slovenia 15min.lt
7. (in Lithuanian) Lithuanian hero L.Grigelis: It was the best match in my career 15min.lt
8. Lithuania vs. Great Britain daviscup.com
9. Great Britain suffer humiliating Davis Cup defeat bbc.co.uk
10. Davis Cup: Great Britain suffers new tennis low with defeat in Lithuania telegraph.co.uk
11. (in Lithuanian) Doubles team of Berankis and Grigelis secured the tie for Lithuania 15min.lt
12. Ireland vs. Lithuania daviscup.com
13. Davis Cup: Lithuania overcome Irish team tennisireland.ie
14. Lithuania vs. Slovenia daviscup.com
15. (in Lithuanian) Davis Cup: Kavčič achieved the victory against Grigelis and Lithuania deuce.lt
16. (in Lithuanian) Laurynas Grigelis got injured during the Davis Cup match in Estonia deuce.lt
17. (in Lithuanian) Davis Cup in Estonia: Ričardas Berankis defeated Jurgen Zopp and saved the tie 15min.lt
18. Estonia vs. Lithuania daviscup.com
19. (in Lithuanian) Dovydas Šakinis lost to Jaak Poldma, therefore Lithuania lost to Estonia 15min.l
20. (in Lithuanian) Ričardas Berankis won't play tennis for one more month and will skip Davis Cup 15min.lt
21. (in Lithuanian) Laurynas Grigelis chose his personal career over representing Lithuania in Davis Cup 15min.lt
22. Lithuania vs. Morocco daviscup.com
23. (in Lithuanian) Lithuania lost Davis Cup survival tie to Morocco 0:5 15min.lt
24. Europe Zone Group III daviscup.com