PA Media/dpa
London
Australia beat Britain in the deciding doubles on Saturday to reach the Billie Jean King Cup final in Glasgow.
Playing in their first semi-final for 41 years after Thursday’s remarkable whitewash of Spain, hosts Britain had high hopes of emulating Sue Barker and Virginia Wade, who last led Britain to the final in 1981.
Heather Watson lost the opening rubber 6-4 7-6 (3) to Storm Sanders but Harriet Dart followed up her victory over 13th-ranked Paula Badosa by upsetting Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6 (3) 6-2 to take it to the wire.
Doubles duo Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls have been the revelation of the week for the hosts on their international debut but they were unable to conjure a third victory, losing out 7-6 (1) 6-7 (5) (10-6) to the impressive Sanders and Sam Stosur.
Cheered on by the best crowd of the tournament at the Emirates Arena, Barnett and Nicholls had their chances, holding two set points at 6-5 in the opening set after fighting back from a break down.
Barnett was then broken serving for the second set but they battled through a tense tie-break - helped by some shocking misses from Stosur - to force a first-to-10-point decider.
The British pair fought back from 3-6 down to level but the Australians finished with four points in a row to book their spot against either Switzerland or the Czech Republic on Sunday.
While defeat will sting for the British team, they have hugely out-performed expectations and there should be optimism, especially if Emma Raducanu can get herself on an even keel next season, that this need not be a one-off.
