The Billie Jean King Cup semifinal between Britain and Slovakia is headed to a deciding doubles match after Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter cut up the singles contests in opposition to Viktoria Hruncakova and Rebecca Sramkova on Tuesday.
In Tuesday’s first sport, Raducanu put collectively one in all her finest performances of the yr to beat Slovakia’s Viktoria Hruncakova in straight units.
The 22-year-old has already crushed Germany’s Jule Niemeier and Canada’s Rebecca Marino within the competitors and confirmed imperious type to race right into a 5-1 lead within the opening set on Tuesday.
A wobble adopted, with a double fault on break level scuppering her first try to serve out the set, however the 2021 US Open winner recovered to say it 6-4 in entrance of a crowd dominated by Union Jacks.
The second set was a tighter affair from the outset, staying on serve till its fifth sport the place Raducanu despatched down some brutal returns to grab the initiative.
A tense maintain adopted, however the Brit quickly pressed house her benefit with one other break and finally claimed the competition 6-4, 6-4.
Boulter then took to the court docket and made a wonderful begin, breaking Sramkova’s serve within the very first sport of the match.
The world No. 24 misplaced her personal first service sport instantly afterwards however then settled, counting on an aggressive forehand to dominate the rallies and finally claiming the primary set 6-2.
Sramkova responded impressively, beginning the second set with a love maintain of serve earlier than breaking Boulter enroute to racing right into a 4-1 lead.
The Brit then rallied herself to degree scores at 4-4 earlier than undoing her exhausting work with a sequence of unforced errors that allowed Sramkova, the world No. 43, to take the match to a deciding set — the primary three-set affair the British workforce has performed since arriving in Spain.
The third noticed the group change into extra raucous, and the Slovak star appeared to make use of that vitality as she broke Boulter early to determine a snug lead with a outstanding backhand winner.
Frustration from each gamers grew to become evident however Boulter as soon as once more reached deep into her reserves to wrestle again impetus and re-establish parity at 3-3.
The match remained on a knife’s edge till an premature double fault from Boulter gifted her opponent two match factors, with Sramkova profiting from the second to ship the tie to the doubles with a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 win.
Heather Watson and Olivia Nicholls will now play in opposition to Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova to see if Anne Keothavong’s workforce can change into the primary British workforce to win the match in its historical past, having completed as runners-up on 4 events (1967, 1971, 1972, 1981).
The winner of will face Italy within the closing after Jasmine Paolini and co. overcame Iga Swiatek’s Poland on Monday.
