Fed Cup blow for Britain

Great Britain’s Fed Cup jinx continued yesterday in Miki as a littleknown Japanese doubles pairing sealed a comeback win in the final rubber of the tie.

Makoto Ninomiya and Miyu Kato are ranked 40 and 55 in doubles respectively, with a single WTA title apiece. Their selection for the deciding match threw up an old chestnut of team tennis: can two doubles specialists beat a pair of quality singles players – in this case Johanna Konta and Heather Watson? And the answer, as Japan delivered a tense 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory, was yes.

Konta had earlier provided the perfect start to Great Britain’s day when she overcame Naomi Osaka, one of the form players of the circuit, in the clash between the two singles No1s. At that stage, the visitors held a promising 2-1 lead.

But Watson was wasteful against Kurumi Nara, the Japanese No 2, who is ranked 23 places below her at No100 in the world. She led 5-3 in the first set before being broken back, then held three set points at 6-3 in the tie-break. But Watson came in on a five-match losing streak and her confidence is leaky. She went down to a 7-6, 6-4 defeat and then lacked the required consistency in the doubles rubber.

Konta gave Ninomiya and Kato problems in the decider with her powerful serves and flat groundstrokes, but the Japanese were the more composed team, and could be seen laughing at changeovers as they remained apparently immune to the pressure. The Japanese firstserve percentage of 72 was impressively high.