Which she takes and then holds to level

Break point conversion is going to do for Harriet across both days. She's had the chances in both ties. But she has raised her level. Needs some magic now.

Netherlands Belarus about to start a deciding set TB in the deciding doubles rubber.

Edit - Belarus came through that TB 10-8 on their 4th or 5th MP. So the line up is virtually confirmed now.

Czech Rep, Hungary, Australia, France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Belarus, Slovakia , Germany and Russia all there, and it'll take a seismic effort from Ostapenko and Sevastova later on to turn Latvia's tie with the USA around.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Saturday 8th of February 2020 07:18:33 PM

I thought Harriet played very well against a former WR26 player - she is improving steadily (just needs to work on that second serve). Great attitude, and some excellent shots.

As a side note, the Romanian pair that lost the deciding doubles against Russia were the pair that won the W60 in France recently, beating Em + and Beth + on the way.

Great win for Ostapenko to end Kenin's 8 match winning streak, she was fantastic in the 1st and 3rd sets.

Calling it a night now, but it's still a very tough ask for Latvia to win the next 2 rubbers.

Following the defeat to Slovakia I've heard Anne K on the radio this morning hoping to persuade Johanna Konta to be available for  the play-off's in April. If we lose in April it will be back to Bath in 2021. Asking Jo to play belies the fact that we have strength in depth in our players.  As far as Jo is concerned we don't know the state of her knee. There was an article in the Guardian that even with the focus on team sports the fact remains that tennis remains an individual sport which requires players to make selfish decisions for the benefit of their careers. The article continued saying Konta owes GB nothing and has lead the team more than most other top players. 

From its start in 1963 to 1994, the Fed Cup was held in 1 venue (in various different countries) on a straight knock out basis and was actually a hard event to sell to spectators. Then  in 1995 it split up into various groups. Of course the number of countries has greatly increased with Yugoslavia and the USSR in particular splitting up. The new format requires players to win more matches than the 1963 to 1994 format did. Strangely enough success at Fed Cup does not translate to success on the tour as Siniakova and Mladenovic  has illustrated recently.