Nice Britain have been knocked out of the Bille Jean King Cup on the semifinal stage on Tuesday as Slovakia got here from behind to win the best-of-three contest 2-1 in Malaga, Spain.
Anne Keothavong’s group have been aiming to change into the primary British group to win the match in its historical past, having completed as runners-up on 4 events (1967, 1971, 1972, 1981) and had began the competition strongly after Emma Raducanu’s spectacular victory over Viktoria Hruncakova within the first match-up.
Katie Boulter then misplaced to Rebecca Sramkova earlier than Heather Watson and Olivia Nicholls fell to Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova within the deciding doubles match.
“Emma performed completely wonderful, so I didn’t really feel dangerous after the match, really, and I used to be very hopeful that Rebecca might make a degree for us and that we will play a deciding doubles,” Hruncakova stated on courtroom as her group celebrated.
“And that occurred. It was the most effective doubles of our lives.”
Raducanu put collectively considered one of her finest performances of the 12 months to beat Hruncakova in straight units.
The 22-year-old has already overwhelmed Germany’s Jule Niemeier and Canada’s Rebecca Marino within the competitors and confirmed imperious type to race right into a 5-1 lead within the opening set on Tuesday.
A wobble adopted, with a double fault on break level scuppering her first try and serve out the set, however the 2021 US Open winner recovered to say it 6-4 in entrance of a crowd dominated by Union Jacks.
The second set was a tighter affair from the outset, staying on serve till its fifth sport the place Raducanu despatched down some brutal returns to grab the initiative.
A tense maintain adopted, however the Brit quickly pressed house her benefit with one other break and ultimately claimed the competition 6-4, 6-4.
Boulter then took to the courtroom and made a wonderful begin, breaking Sramkova’s serve within the very first sport of the match.
The world No. 24 misplaced her personal first service sport instantly afterwards however then settled, counting on an aggressive forehand to dominate the rallies and ultimately claiming the primary set 6-2.
Sramkova responded impressively, beginning the second set with a love maintain of serve earlier than breaking Boulter enroute to racing right into a 4-1 lead.
The Brit then bounced again herself to degree scores at 4-4 earlier than undoing her arduous work with a collection of unforced errors that allowed Sramkova, the world No. 43, to take the match to a deciding set — the primary three-set affair the British group has performed since arriving in Spain.
The third noticed the group change into extra raucous, and the Slovak star appeared to make use of that vitality as she broke Boulter early to ascertain a snug lead with a exceptional backhand winner.
Boulter as soon as once more reached deep into her reserves to wrestle again impetus and re-establish parity because the match remained on a knife’s edge till an premature double fault from Boulter gifted her opponent two match factors, with Sramkova making the most of the second to ship the tie to the doubles with a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 win.
Watson and Nicholls have been then outclassed by Hruncakova and Mihalikova 6-2, 6-2 to make sure Nice Britain’s seek for a primary Billie Jean King Cup success will proceed for at the very least one other 12 months.
Slovakia will face Italy within the closing after Jasmine Paolini and co. overcame Iga Swiatek’s Poland on Monday.
Data from Reuters contributed to this report