Sports in brief - 2012-08-09

Lithuanian football club Ekranas appears to have been halted at the third and final round of qualifying to play in the Champions League for a second consecutive season. The Panevezvys-based club went into the second leg of their clash on Wednesday evening, after TBT went to print, sitting on the wrong side of a 5-0 ledger after being thumped on the away leg by Belgian club RSC Anderlecht. Anderlecht got on the board in just the second minute of play and already had the game in the bag at the half with a 3-0 lead. Another goal, in the 52nd minute, and a fifth just three minutes from time added further insult to the Lithuanians and left them needing nothing short of a miracle if they are to do what no other Lithuanian football club has ever achieved, squalifying for the main draw of Europe’s premier club football competition. The most realistic scenario is that the club will now drop down and compete in the playoff round to qualify for Europe’s second-tier club competition, the Europa League. It appears that Ekranas will get another crack at breaking into the top echelon of European club teams against next season, as they currently lead the Lithuanian domestic league by eight points with the season approaching the business end.

Should Ekranas manage to navigate the playoff round of the Europa League, they will be the only Baltic team to be playing in the second-tier competition next season, following the departure of five Baltic clubs at the conclusion of the second qualifying round. Lithuanian club Suduva were in a prime position to make it through to the third round of qualifying, after scoring an all-important away goal in a 1-1 tie on the away leg of their clash with Serbian club Vojvodina. However, the Marijampole club imploded on the home leg, conceding four goals to lose the clash 5-1. Estonian club Levadia were easily disposed of, 6-1, by Anorthosis of Cyprus; Latvian club Skonto failed to overturn a 2-0 deficit to Croatian club Hajduk Split after only managing to score one goal on the home leg; fellow Latvian club Liepajas Metalurgs were comprehensively defeated By Polish club Legia, 7-3, whilst Lithuanian club Zalgiris fell to Admira of Austria, 6-2.

Lithuanian tennis player Ricardas Berankis has taken significant steps in rising back up through the ranks of men’s tennis with a trip to the final of the Farmer Classic in Los Angeles, held July 23-29. Two seasons ago, the former junior world no. 1 was the poster child for the next generation of tennis champions, but after being laid out for four months last year with a groin injury, the now 22-year-old’s confidence received a major knock. Disappearing from major tournaments whilst he bided his time playing with mixed success on the second-tier challenger’s tour, Berankis’ appearance in the main draw in Los Angeles marked only the second time this season that the former world no.73 had navigated his way through qualifying at an ATP event. Ranked 141 in the world at the beginning of the week in Los Angeles, Berankis won all three of his qualifying games before defeating four players ranked at least 50 places higher than him on his journey to a date with American Sam Querry in the final. But the world no.57 easily had the measure of Berankis, winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-2. Berankis was back in action a week later, falling to another American, world no.15 Mardy Fish, in the round of 16 in Washington. Berankis’ world ranking has now rocketed up to 88 in the world, meaning it is likely that he will receive direct entry to the main draw of the U.S. Open.