TENNIS DAVIS CUPIT HAD Sergiy Stakhovsky coming back from two sets down; it had medical time outs for both him and Ireland's number one, Conor Niland; it had disputed line calls and interruptions from the crowd and in the end over four hours and five minutes, a marathon Davis Cup tie at Fitzwilliam finally fell to the Ukraine.

Having won one of the singles matches on Friday and the doubles on Saturday, all the Ukraine needed was one more point to secure three points from the five available. Preventing that scenario from unfolding fell to Niland in the first match yesterday afternoon.

While he lost it narrowly 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 against a player ranked 185 places above him on the world ladder the tie was as compelling a match as has been played in Ireland for some time. In the end maybe tiredness crept into Niland's game and against a player, who played first round of Wimbledon this year, experience too.

"It was my first time winning in five sets and my first time coming back from 0-2 down," said Stakhovsky. "It's very sweet."

Niland left disappointed that he let a two-set lead slip away after such a promising start. He had one service break in the first game of the first set and held for 6-4, then capitalised on a Ukraine double fault for a service break in the ninth game of the second set to put light between the two.

Niland was playing with the greater aggression and throughout those opening exchanges his fearless attitude kept him in control and he was good enough to send the tie down to the fifth rubber of the series. But the third set turned those expectations with Stakhovsky remaining calm until a dip in serve and a few loose shots in the 10th game handed a set back for 2-1.

At that stage momentum had not started to swing against Niland but when the two exchanged service games in the fourth set to propel it into a tie-break, which Ukraine won 9-7, it seemed to be slipping away from Ireland. Niland also called for a three-minute medical timeout as he has begun to cramp but on court his movement was unhampered.

The fifth set was something of a roller coaster and as the gloom overhead gave way to late afternoon sunshine the two produced the best tennis of the match, even if they struggled to hold their service games under the pressure.

Three breaks of serve for Niland and three breaks for Stakhovsky made for a fraught closing passage with the Irishman having to break serve just to stay in the match at 4-5 down. But Niland coughed up his service game for 5-6, allowing Ukraine to serve for the match for the second time, an unreturnable serve forcing Niland's forehand into the net on match point to finally settle the tie.

In the fifth, but dead, rubber Ireland's Conor O'Brien beat Artem Smirnov 6-2, 6-2.