Billie Jean King Cup Finals: After Harriet Dart fell against Caroline Garcia, Great Britain’s chances of competing in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals were over as France jumped up to an unstoppable 3-0 lead.
After close victories on Friday for Garcia over Katie Boulter and Alize Cornet over Dart, France opened the second day of play at the Country Building Society Arena in complete control.
Before Dart was defeated by Cornet on the first day, Boulter was denied victory in a nail-biting match against Garcia.
Boulter was defeated by Garcia in nearly three and a half hours, but the world No. 5 appeared to have an easy afternoon ahead of her after taking the opening set in under an hour.
However, Dart, the highest-ranked player for Great Britain in Emma Raducanu’s absence, held her own in the second set and saved two match points in a nail-biting tie-break to force a deciding.
The British No. 3 was hoping to replicate her exploits from last November in Glasgow when Britain surprisingly advanced to the semifinals for the first time in more than 40 years. However, Garcia rallied to win the match 6-1 6-7 (10) 6-1.
In 2023, Dart had a very difficult time picking up victories, and in the first set, she was completely outmatched, dropping all three of her service games.
Dart was unable to save two Garcia opportunities at match point before the Frenchwoman sent a forehand sailing out of court in the tense tie-break, but Garcia dug in at the start of the second and firmly held through to it.
Garcia must have been wondering why she was still there, but she used her annoyance to break Dart at the first chance and demonstrate how to pull away.
With the relative rankings of the players in the two nations, this matchup was always going to be difficult, and Britain’s hopes were further hampered by Emma Raducanu, their lone top-100 player, prioritising the clay-court season.
The Lawn Tennis Association stepped in to host the event last year, giving Britain a spot in the finals despite losing in qualifying. This year, there will be no repeat, and skipper Anne Keothavong will aim to have more in-form players to choose from for the relegation play-offs in November.
It would be difficult to claim that Britain now belongs at the top table of women’s tennis, and Dart, Boulter, Katie Swan, and Jodie Burrage must focus on raising their rankings in order to play opponents of this calibre much more frequently.
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