Davis Cup tennis:Ireland suffered a second round Davis Cup defeat to Lithuania today after they were beaten in straights in the doubles tie at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club.
Barry King and James Cluskey, the Irish number three and four respectively, were beaten 6-3 6-3 6-4 by Ricardis Berankis and Laurynas Grigelis.
Both Berankis and Grigelis won their singles matches against Irish number one Conor Niland and number two James McGee last night, meaning tomorrow’s games are now irrelevant.
France also inflicted an unassailable lead on defending champions Spain, whose hopes of a hat-trick of triumphs are now over.
French duo Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau beat Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez in four sets to give France a first Davis Cup triumph against Spain since 1923.
"They played better than us in the doubles. It was a high level game and we have nothing to feel guilty about," Spain captain Albert Costa told reporters.
"It's a very distressing day. Our players have won the Davis Cup twice and they can be proud of what they did. This time we lost because we came across a better team."
France will play the winners of the quarter-final in Moscow between Russia and Argentina which will be decided on Sunday after Argentina's Horacio Zeballos and Eduardo Schwank won Saturday's doubles to give the south Americans a 2-1 lead.
Serbia lead Croatia 2-1 while Chile were battling to stay in the competition after conceding both Friday's singles to an injury-hit Czech Republic in Coquimbo.