Great Britain have made it back to the World Group II for the first time in 26 years by beating Kazakhstan 3-1 in their playoffs tie over this weekend.
2-1 up going into the fourth match of their tie, Great Britain’s Katie Boulter overcame the first set loss to Zarina Diyas to clinch a victory over Kazakhstan. She was down a break in the second set as well and struggling with back troubles but came back to defeat Diyas 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-1.
This was after British number one Johanna Konta helped her side take a 2-1 lead with another comeback-from-behind win when she registered a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory against Yulia Putintseva.
And a winning selfie! ?
How would you sum up our incredible @FedCup Team in one word? #BackTheBrits ?? pic.twitter.com/pIHePnPYbz
— LTA (@the_LTA) April 21, 2019
With the match at a set apiece in her match, Konta went behind 4-1 in the final set but responded strongly to push her side into a lead.
This was much-needed given Boulter had been struggling even in her earlier Fed Cup loss at the hands of Putintseva on Saturday. She needed hot water bottles during her encounter against Diyas, and admittedly affected by her defeat to Putintseva after missing out three match-points, she lost the first set in a tie-breaker.
After winning the second set and levelling the encounter, Boulter raced to a 2-0 lead. Diyad had a chance to break back but she held on to go 3-0 up before finishing it off in the seventh game.
And once she had completed the win, Boulter was joined by Konta, Heather Watson, Katie Swan and Harriet Dart in their celebration.
Meanwhile Ash Barty won all three of her matches including the deciding doubles encounter against Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka to help Australia defeat Belarus in the Fed Cup semi-final.
In the other semi-final Simona Halep and Pauline Parmentier won their respective singles matches to take the tie to the doubles match which will be played in a while from now.
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