Emma Raducanu wins singles tie but Britain beaten in Billie Jean King Cup semi-final against Slovakia

Great Britain have been beaten 2-1 by Slovakia in the semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup to be denied a first appearance in the final for 43 years.

Emma Raducanu got Team GB off to a winning start when defeating Viktoria Hruncakova 6-4 6-4 – her third consecutive straight-sets win in the Finals – but British No 1 Katie Boulter was beaten in the second singles rubber and Slovakia claimed the decisive doubles match.

Despite taking the opening set against world No 43 Rebecca Sramkova, Boulter went down 2-6 6-4 6-4, before Olivia Nicholls and Heather Watson were roundly beaten 6-2 6-2 by Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova in the doubles.

Anne Keothavong’s team now return to the qualifiers in April, where a revamped format will see the winners of seven three-team groups – one of which could be hosted by Britain – moving forward to next year’s finals.

Slovakia will now face four-time champions Italy in the BJK Cup final, on Wednesday from 4pm (GMT).

Raducanu gets GB off to perfect start

In the opening match of the semi-final tie, Raducanu – who also triumphed in straight sets in Britain’s prior wins over Germany and defending champions Canada – saw off world No 238 Hruncakova.

The 22-year-old immediately broke her opponent but then fended off three break points on her own opening service game, before opening up a 5-1 lead with a second break of serve.

The 2021 US Open champion faltered a touch when closing out the first set, spurning a set point when broken back, but eventually converted her third.

The second set followed a similar pattern, Raducanu earning a double break at 5-2, only to be broken back when serving for the match before closing out a 6-4 6-4 win.

“Every match is extremely challenging and I think as the tournament progresses it’s even more so,” Raducanu said in her on-court interview.

“Today was a really tough battle because my opponent has a huge ball strike and, despite her ranking, she plays much above that.

“I’m really happy to come through that because I’ve lost to her before [in 2023 in Auckland].”

Boulter beaten to force doubles decider

Boulter failed to back up Raducanu’s third straight win with one of her own despite taking the opening set comfortably against her opponent, who is ranked 19 places below her.

But Sramkova, who is almost blind in one eye, beat Boulter in their only previous encounter on clay in the spring and upset world No 11 Danielle Collins in Slovakia’s defeat of the USA in the first round.

As Boulter’s groundstrokes became more erratic, Sramkova opened up a 4-1 lead in the second set and though the Brit steadied herself to win the next three games, she was broken again at 4-5 to force a deciding set.

The momentum was now with the Slovakian, who took an early lead in the third, only for Boulter to again peg her back.

The 28-year-old’s resistance was finally ended, though, when again broken to stay in the set, Sramkova claiming the second of two match points when Boulter missed a backhand.

Italy await Slovakia in BJK Cup final

Slovakia clinched their place in Wednesday’s final with Italy with a comprehensive doubles win over Nicholls and Watson.

The British pair had not been required during the previous two rounds of the tournament due to Raducanu and Boulter’s fine form, and their rustiness showed as they lost in straight sets to Hruncakova and Mihalikova.

Nicholls and Watson were broken in both their opening two service games to set the tone, while they spurned four break-point opportunities of their own in the second set that could have made things closer.

Italy await in the final for Slovakia after last year’s runners-up booked a second successive appearance with a 2-1 victory over Poland on Monday.

World No 4 Jasmine Paolini and her team-mate Sara Errani clinched the deciding doubles 7-5 7-5 against Iga Swiatek and Katarzyna Kawa after an extraordinary second-set comeback in Malaga.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek had battled back from a set down to defeat Paolini in their singles tie, after world No 78 Lucia Bronzetti struck first for Italy, defeating Poland’s Magda Linette – ranked 40 places higher – in straight sets.

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