Slovakia beats Britain to set up final against Italy in Billie Jean King Cup

MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Slovakia rallied to beat Britain 2-1 and reach its first Billie Jean King Cup final in more than two decades on Tuesday.

Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova defeated Olivia Nicholls and Heather Watson 6-2, 6-2 in the decisive doubles match, putting Slovakia back in the final for the first time since 2002 to face last year's runner-up Italy on Wednesday.

“Absolutely special moment for our country, for our players, for tennis in Slovakia,” captain Matej Liptak said. “It’s so many years when we won it once only. But today it’s really real, and we are just one step from the maybe biggest victory of our team or team members. We will try to enjoy it.”

Britain was trying to reach the final of the women's team event for the first time in more than four decades.

“We’re all absolutely gutted,” Britain team captain Anne Keothavong said. "We came into this event really believing that we had a good shot at it and unfortunately we fell short. We came up against a better team. It’s still pretty raw right now. It’s quite difficult to find the right words.”

Slovakia forced the deciding match after Rebecca Sramkova rallied to defeat Katie Boulter 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second singles match of the tie.

Britain had taken the lead when Emma Raducanu defeated Hruncakova 6-4, 6-4 in the first singles, a result that ended Hruncakova's six-match winning streak in the competition counting both singles and doubles matches.

“I had some good performances on the court this week. I played three matches, which is great for me. I haven’t played in a while, so I think being able to score a point and get on the board was helpful,” Raducanu said. “We definitely have a winning team. We can improve certain things, but overall, I think we did a really good job and there is a lot of positives to take.”

Britain last reached the semifinals in 2022, when it lost to Australia.

Slovakia was playing in the semifinals for the first time since 2013. Before that it had made it to the last-four in 2002 when it won the title in a final against Spain.

Slovakia upset 18-time champion United States in the first round and defeated Australia in the quarterfinals. Britain picked up 2-0 wins against Germany and defending champions Canada in the last-eight.

This is the first time that the women’s team tournament is taking place at the same venue as the Davis Cup and with overlapping dates. And for the second year in a row, it offers equivalent prize money to the men’s competition.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis