GB set for Slovakia trip in Fed Cup

GREAT Britain will travel to Slovakia in tennis’ Fed Cup qualifiers in February.

Victory for Anne Keothavong’s team in the tie on February 7-8 would see them qualify for the inaugural Fed Cup finals in Budapest in April.

Twelve teams will contest the World Cup-style event in the Hungarian capital, with the eight winners of February’s ties joining this year’s finalists, Australia and France, the hosts and wild cards the Czech Republic.

Britain achieved their best result for 26 years by winning their World Group play-off against Kazakhstan earlier this year in what has proved to be the final season of the current format.

Johanna Konta won both her singles matches while Katie Boulter secured the winning point despite a back injury that has ruled her out of action ever since.

Konta has won her last 11 singles matches in the competition and, at 16 in the world, is by some distance the highest-ranked player from either country.

However, Konta is currently the only British woman in the top 100 while Slovakia have three - Viktoria Kuzmova, Dominika Cibulkova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

Slovakia won the title in 2002 and have competed at World Group level every year since 2006.

Defeat for Britain would mean they would have to compete in a play-off round in the same week as the finals. Victory there would give them another shot at the finals in 2021 while defeat would send them back to the Europe/ Africa Zone.