Great Britain’s hopes of reaching the Billie Jean King Cup final for the first time in 43 years were ended as they were defeated 2-1 by a spirited Slovakia team on Tuesday.
Emma Raducanu improved to 3-0 in Málaga as she defeated Slovakia’s No 2 Viktoria Hruncakova 6-4, 6-4 to establish a 1-0 lead for Great Britain. Despite a rapid start, Katie Boulter was reeled back in by a gritty, resourceful performance from the in-form Rebecca Sramkova 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
With the final on the line, Heather Watson and Olivia Nicholls were comprehensively defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova.
Over the past week, Slovakia has been the biggest surprise of the tournament. Hruncakova has played a key role throughout, winning an incredibly tight decisive doubles tie alongside Mihaikova against the United States before defeating Kimberly Birrell in three tight sets as they rolled through Australia. However, the 26-year-old is ranked No 238, a world away from her career high ranking of 43.
The contest between Hruncakova and Raducanu will not be remembered as a classic, but Raducanu handled her business against a lesser singles opponent. She kept her error count low, striking only nine unforced errors to 26 from Hruncakova, she defended well and competed strongly to close out her third straight sets win of the week after a two-month layoff.
Just two months younger than Boulter and also 28 years old, Sramkova is in the form of her life. After spending her entire career outside of the top 100, the Slovak has risen from No 136 to 43 in just a couple of months and she has led Slovakia’s charge in Málaga. Sramkova is a great athlete and a resourceful player who makes her opponents work hard for any wins.
Boulter picked up from where she left off in previous matches, serving well and obliterating forehands as she blew Sramkova away in the opening set. Having gained so much confidence in recent months, though, Sramkova responded immediately. She served more precisely, improved her length and particularly forced Boulter into longer, tougher exchanges on her backhand, exposing her lower shot tolerance.
After losing control of the baseline in the second set, Boulter never recovered the rhythm or clarity she struck the ball with in the opening set and was methodically ground down by an excellent Sramkova in what would prove to be the key match of the tie.
With Raducanu and Boulter proving so decisive for Great Britain throughout their run this year, the doubles team of Watson and Nicholls had not been required to compete at all in the competition this year. Thrust into fray under pressure in such an important match, the pair started slowly and never recovered as Great Britain’s excellent run came to an end.
