Harriet Dart had beat world number 33 Ajla Tomljanovic to setup the doubles decider, but Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls narrowly lost to Storm Sanders and Sam Stosur as Australia reached Sunday's final, where they will play either Switzerland or the Czech Republic
Saturday 12 November 2022 18:35, UK
Australia have beaten Great Britain 2-1 to reach the Billie Jean King Cup final after winning the decisive doubles rubber.
Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls began their season at a small event in Grenoble and on Saturday found themselves trying to send Britain through to a first Billie Jean King Cup final for 41 years.
They were up against two leading doubles exponents in Storm Sanders and 38-year-old Sam Stosur, an eight-time grand slam champion.
The Australians took an early lead but Barnett and Nicholls played themselves into the match and broke back for 5-5 before forcing two set points, neither of which they could take.
Sanders and Stosur made them pay in a one-sided tie-break, and Barnett was then unable to serve out the second set at 5-4, with two more set points going begging.
That sent the match to another tie-break, which Britain battled through to set up a first-to-10-points deciding tie-break.
The British pair fought back from 3-6 down to level but the Australians finished with four points in a row to win 7-6 (1) 6-7 (5) (10-6) and book their spot against either Switzerland or the Czech Republic on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Harriet Dart had produced more heroics to draw Great Britain level 1-1 against Australia in Glasgow.
After the high of their unexpected and hugely impressive victory over Spain on Thursday to make the last four for the first time since 1981, a 6-4 7-6 (3) loss for Heather Watson against Sanders left Anne Keothavong's side in the last-chance saloon again.
But Dart, who claimed one of the best victories of her career against 13th-ranked Paula Badosa, delighted the sizeable crowd at the Emirates Arena by defeating 33rd-ranked Ajla Tomljanovic.
Twenty-nine-year-old Tomljanovic, who sent Serena Williams into retirement at the US Open and has had the best season of her career, was Dart's third big-hitting opponent of the week.
She started slowly, though, and Dart took full advantage, picking up where she left off against Badosa and powering into a 3-0 lead.
Tomljanovic found her range but the British number two kept her nose in front until she served for the set at 5-3, when the pressure on her serve told.
She missed a set point on Tomljanovic's serve in the next game but the Australian, who has been fighting off a reputation as a player who struggles at the big moments, faltered badly in the tie-break.
A tally of 17 winners to five in favour of Dart showed how well the 26-year-old had played, and she made the perfect start to the second set with another break.
Tomljanovic looked frustrated and a slew of errors gave Dart another break for 4-1, from where there was no way back.
Watson denied feeling the pressure of expectation against a player ranked significantly lower and instead said the early start to the match - Britain had previously played in the evening - had affected her.
But, whatever the reason, it was clear from the start this was not the same Watson from Thursday, who had barely missed a ball in a 6-0 6-2 pasting of Nuria Parrizas Diaz.
Sanders has never made the top 100 and is ranked down at 237 but at her best is clearly a much better player than that and she had claimed two confident singles wins this week.
She is also a top-10 doubles player and immediately put Watson under pressure, breaking serve in the third game and using intelligent tactics to stop her opponent finding any rhythm.
Sanders took a medical timeout at the end of the first set for treatment to her right hip area and initially appeared to be in some discomfort, but Watson missed a chance to move 3-0 ahead in the second and from there the Australian resumed her ascendancy.
"I'm really disappointed that I wasn't able to get the result that I wanted today for the team, but I gave it my best," said Watson. "It was still a good match."
