Success for a trio of British players on both sides of the Atlantic has left John Lloyd, the Great Britain Davis Cup captain, with much to debate as the clock ticks down to the Europe-Africa Zone tie in Lithuania in March.
Chris Eaton’s victory over Jamie Baker in the final of a Glasgow Futures event — he won the doubles, too — has placed the name of the right-hander from Surrey into the mix, but Lloyd requires him to stride on from that and not allow one week’s excellence to go to waste.
Equally, although Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski will form a doubles pairing for the first time in the Australian Open that started overnight, the success for Jamie Murray and Jonathan Marray in an ATP Challenger Tour event in Salinas, California, is a confident start to the season. The tie against Lithuania is only six weeks away and the triumphs came after Alex Bogdanovic, James Ward and Dan Evans all failed to join Andy Murray in the main draw in Melbourne.
“I’m looking very closely at all the results in the next few weeks because this is a tie we really need to win,” Lloyd said. “The Lithuanian, No 1 [Ricardas Berankis, ranked No 237] is going to be a real test for whichever singles players I choose.”
Laura Robson, who reaches her 16th birthday on January 21, will spend this week having extensive treatment for a torn muscle in her left shoulder, in the hope that she can compete in the Australian Open junior championships.