Disappointment in Fed Cup for Britain
Great Britain yesterday missed out on a place in the new-look Fed Cup Finals after losing their qualifying tie to Slovakia in Bratislava.
Defeats for Heather Watson and Harriet Dart on Friday had left Anne Keothavong’s side needing to produce an unlikely comeback to reach April’s 12-team showpiece in Budapest.
Watson kept their hopes alive with a 6-0 7-5 victory over world No. 202, Rebecca Sramkova, in the first of yesterday’s reverse singles, Sramkova having replaced Viktoria Kuzmova after she was ruled out through illness.
However, Dart then lost a hard-fought contest 7-5 6-3 to world No.199 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova to give Slovakia an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Britain now need to win a play-off tie in April to earn another chance to reach the finals in 2021, while a defeat would send them back to the Europe/Africa Zone.
▪ Dunblane’s Jamie Murray and Liverpool’s Neal Skupski have still to reach their first final together following another agonising semi-final defeat at the South of France Open in Montpellier yesterday.
The No. 4 seeds took the opening set against fellow Briton Dominic Inglot and Pakistan’s Aisam Qureshi, but they failed to finish the job and were ultimately undone in a deciding champions tie-break as Inglot and Qureshi went through 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-5.
Murray and Skupski lost five semi-finalsin-a-row last summer and also exited at the same stage once more in Adelaide last month.
Yesterday’s defeat was Murray’s second disappointment in seven days after losing last week’s mixed-doubles final at the Australian Open in Melbourne.