Great Britain were knocked out of the Bille Jean King Cup at the semifinal stage on Tuesday as Slovakia came from behind to win the best-of-three contest 2-1 in Malaga, Spain.
Anne Keothavong’s team were aiming to become the first British team to win the tournament in its history, having finished as runners-up on four occasions (1967, 1971, 1972, 1981) and had started the contest strongly after Emma Raducanu’s impressive victory over Viktoria Hruncakova in the first match-up.
Katie Boulter then lost to Rebecca Sramkova before Heather Watson and Olivia Nicholls fell to Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova in the deciding doubles match.
“Emma played absolutely amazing, so I did not feel bad after the match, actually, and I was very hopeful that Rebecca could make a point for us and that we can play a deciding doubles,” Hruncakova said on court as her team celebrated.
“And that happened. It was the best doubles of our lives.”
Raducanu put together one of her best performances of the year to beat Hruncakova in straight sets.
The 22-year-old has already beaten Germany’s Jule Niemeier and Canada’s Rebecca Marino in the competition and showed imperious form to race into a 5-1 lead in the opening set on Tuesday.
A wobble followed, with a double fault on break point scuppering her first attempt to serve out the set, but the 2021 US Open winner recovered to claim it 6-4 in front of a crowd dominated by Union Jacks.
The second set was a tighter affair from the outset, staying on serve until its fifth game where Raducanu sent down some brutal returns to seize the initiative.
A tense hold followed, but the Brit soon pressed home her advantage with another break and eventually claimed the contest 6-4, 6-4.
Boulter then took to the court and made an excellent start, breaking Sramkova’s serve in the very first game of the match.
The world No. 24 lost her own first service game immediately afterwards but then settled, relying on an aggressive forehand to dominate the rallies and eventually claiming the first set 6-2.
Sramkova responded impressively, starting the second set with a love hold of serve before breaking Boulter enroute to racing into a 4-1 lead.
The Brit then bounced back herself to level scores at 4-4 before undoing her hard work with a series of unforced errors that allowed Sramkova, the world No. 43, to take the match to a deciding set — the first three-set affair the British team has played since arriving in Spain.
The third saw the crowd become more raucous, and the Slovak star seemed to use that energy as she broke Boulter early to establish a comfortable lead with a remarkable backhand winner.
Boulter once again reached deep into her reserves to wrestle back impetus and re-establish parity as the match remained on a knife’s edge until an untimely double fault from Boulter gifted her opponent two match points, with Sramkova taking advantage of the second to send the tie to the doubles with a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 win.
Watson and Nicholls were then outclassed by Hruncakova and Mihalikova 6-2, 6-2 to ensure Great Britain’s search for a first Billie Jean King Cup success will continue for at least another year.
Slovakia will face Italy in the final after Jasmine Paolini and co. overcame Iga Swiatek’s Poland on Monday.
