British Tennis - Lawn Tennis Association

Dan Evans and James Ward were both in singles action today at Braehead Arena, in their Davis Cup by BNP Paribas tie in Glasgow.

Dan Evans, who was first on court, defeated Lukas Lacko in straight sets to give Great Britain a 1-0 lead over the Slovak Republic.

The AEGON GB Davis Cup Team No.2 player, Evans, beat the Slovakian No.1 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 in the first rubber at Braehead Arena.

The British player, currently ranked 276 in the world said the following after beating his opponent, the world No.65:

"Today I felt like I could hold my own out there, I knew he was 65 in the world but I was still pretty confident walking out there.

"I had a lot of fun out there, which is what I was told to do; go out there, have fun and play my game. Beating him in straight sets wasn’t what I thought was going to happen. I was confident I could win, just not in that style."

It was a very impressive match from Evans, who dismissed any nerves with a strong start to the match, in contrast to his 24 year old opponent, taking the opener 6-3.

The second and third sets were tighter affairs but at 5-5 in both sets Evans stepped up his game, broke and went on to serve out the sets.

Congratulated on his win Evans was keen to stress this was just the first step in completing the tie victory: "It’s not about me, not about anyone individually, it’s about the team."

James Ward was next on court against Martin Klizan where the tie was levelled after the Slovak No.2 defeated the Briton 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4)

After a slow start where Ward lost the first set 6-2, he fought back to take the second, breaking the Slovakian’s serve in the final game of the set.

The third set stayed with serve until 4-4 and after a couple of close line calls which unsettled Ward, Klizan took his chance and the break.

In the fourth set Ward was 4-1 up but the experience of the Slovakian player shined through and he served extremely well to take the set to a tie-break.

Ward struggled to stay afloat in the tie-break against the hard-hitting Slovakian and eventually fell 7-4 which levelled the tie 1-1.

Slovakian Captain Miloslav Mercir said after day one; "It's 1-1, it's all open, tomorrow's doubles will be a crucial point and will say a lot."

Tomorrow sees Top British doubles pairing Colin Fleming & Ross Hutchins looking to claim their second Davis Cup victory together.

Review the match through the 'As it Happened' blog.