Great Britain’s hopes of reaching the Fed Cup World Group II play-offs are over after Johanna Konta and Heather Watson lost singles matches to Belarus. Konta was thrashed 6-0 6-1 by Olga Govortsova and Watson lost 6-4 6-1 to Victoria Azarenka. Judy Murray’s team had rallied from the brink of elimination to beat Ukraine and set up a shoot-out with Belarus. But Govortsova and Azarenka’s wins gave Belarus an unassailable 2-0 lead and put them through to April’s play-offs. Azarenka broke the British No 1 early, but Watson stuck to her task and broke back, only to drop her serve and allow the dual Australian Open champion to take the opening set. Konta was never allowed to get into a rhythm by Govortsova, who has slumped to 156th in the world rankings, 11 places below her British opponent.But she showed more of the form that took her to No 35 in the world six years ago and cruised to victory in a game Britain had targeted as vital, given the tough task Watson was facing.
“Today just didn’t happen for us,” said GB captain Judy Murray. “It was very disappointing for us after such a good day yesterday and everyone played so well with huge team spirit and desire to get into the play-off.
“In the first match Jo just couldn’t find her form at all but Olga Govortsova played incredibly well and made it very difficult for Jo to get into the match.
“Heather was up against one of the best payers in the world and I thought she got closer than the score probably suggested, but maybe wasn’t quite as consistent as she needed to be to break down that level of player.”
The Fed Cup is limited to just three weeks in the schedule and, although a review of the structure is under way, by 2016 it will be 23 years since Britain’s women last played on home soil.
“It is all over for us for another year and we have 12 months to try and help the girls improve and get ready to come back and challenge for this zone again,” added Murray.
Tennis Fed Cup: Great Britain loses again, play-off hopes ended by Belarus
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