Wins for Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart ensured Great Britain avoided Billie Jean King Cup embarrassment against Sweden at London’s Copper Box.
Dart replaced Jodie Burrage following her nightmare debut in the competition on Saturday and the 27-year-old claimed the decisive point in a 3-1 victory that keeps Anne Keothavong’s side at the elite level of the competition.
Given Sweden were without their top two players and did not have anyone ranked inside 350 to call on, defeat – particularly on home soil – was unthinkable.
Ultimately they recovered well from Burrage’s collapse against Kajsa Rinaldo Persson, with Boulter overcoming some difficult moments in a 6-1 7-6 (5) win over the same player for her second win of the weekend before Dart defeated Caijsa Hennemann 7-5 6-2.
It was no surprise to see Keothavong opt for the greater experience of Dart ahead of Burrage, who will hope that she is given another chance to prove herself in 2024.
Boulter has established herself as the clear British number one this season and it was appropriate she ended her year by playing the leading role for her country at the same venue where in 2019 she suffered a serious back injury that badly stalled her progress.
It was not until earlier this season that she finally returned to the top 100, and this time she has built on the breakthrough while avoiding injury, currently sitting at 58 in the rankings.
“It’s been a whirlwind for many different reasons,” the 27-year-old said. “I think the work I’ve put in the last 10 years has really started to show.
“You never know when you’re going to get your little break. I finally got one this year and I felt like I used that momentum continuing from the grass-court season into the hard-court swing as well and I think that’s the part I’m most proud of.
“I sit here and I can say I love the grass and I love playing in England and I love the British crowd but it’s the other tournaments around the rest of the year that make the difference and that’s what’s going to keep my ranking at the highest point.
“I’ve really stepped it up this year in consistency. I know it’s an uphill battle next year and I’m excited for it, it’s a challenge and it’s somewhere I haven’t been before.”
Boulter did not have things all her own way against Persson, who again played well above her ranking of 372.
The Swede had four chances to send the contest to a decider when she served for the second set at 5-3, but Boulter saved them all and finished the tie-break strongly.
Dart was the star of last year’s run to the semi-finals of the competition in Glasgow but she has endured a difficult season, dropping outside the top 100.
She will remember her win over Hennemann more for the significance than the performance, but she was solid in seeing off the world number 532 and looked emotional as she celebrated with her team-mates.
The triumph means Britain move forward to April’s qualifiers, where victory would see them reach the finals week by right for the first time.
Djokovic bemoans 'completely off' performance after early Italian Open exit
Novak Djokovic lamented his dismal showing as Alejandro Tabilo profited from the world number one's "completely off" performance to triumph at the Italian Open.
Tabilo stunned Djokovic with a straight-sets victory in the third round on Sunday, winning 6-2, 6-3 in his maiden ATP Tour clash with the Serbian.
The Chilean advances to the fourth round at a Masters 1000 event for just the second time after Indian Wells in 2023, with Djokovic unable to explain his struggles in Rome.
"I just wasn't able to find any kind of good feelings on the court, to be honest, striking the ball. I was completely off," he said.
A six-time champion in Rome, the 36-year-old won his opening-round match at the ATP Masters 1000 event against Corentin Moutet.
However, Djokovic was inadvertently hit on the head by a falling water bottle when leaving the court after that victory.
Whether that incident impacted his performance against Tabilo remains to be seen.
"I don't know, to be honest. I have to check that," he said. "Training was different. I was going for [a] kind of easy training yesterday.
"I didn't feel anything, but I also didn't feel the same. Today under high stress, it was quite bad – not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance.
"Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago. Could be. I don't know. I have to do medical checkups and see what's going on."
Tabilo's next opponent will be Karen Khachanov, who saw off Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4, while Djokovic is made to wait for his 1100th match win.
Djokovic stunned in straight-sets defeat at Italian Open
Novak Djokovic is out of the Italian Open after a straight-sets defeat by Alejandro Tabilo in the third round on Sunday.
Tabilo recorded the biggest win of his career with a dominant performance, winning 6-2, 6-3 in his maiden ATP Tour clash with the Serbian.
Djokovic, who was hit on the head by a water bottle following his second-round win over Corentin Moutet, struggled to get going as he saw his serve broken four times.
Tabilo clinched the opening set in style, making few errors, and Djokovic failed to mount a comeback in the second, with double faults costing him at key moments, including one on the final break serve.
The Chilean advances to the fourth round at a Masters 1000 event for just the second time after Indian Wells in 2023. His next opponent will be Karen Khachanov, who saw off Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4.
Data Debrief: Big winner
Tabilo is the second player from Chile to defeat the World No.1 in ATP-1000 events after Fernando Gonzalez, who defeated Lleyton Hewitt at the Hamburg Masters in 2003, since the introduction of the format in 1990.
He is also the first Chilean to defeat a World No. 1 since Fernando Gonzalez beat Roger Federer at the 2007 Nitto ATP Finals Round Robin.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is made to wait for his 1100th match win.
Sabalenka dominates Yastremska to reach Italian Open fourth round
Aryna Sabalenka dominated Dayana Yastremska to reach the fourth round of the Italian Open on Sunday.
Sabalenka, who claimed Australian Open glory for the second time earlier this year without dropping a set, eased to a 6-4 6-2 victory over Yastremska.
Yastremska headed into the third-round contest having beaten Sabalenka in all three of their previous meetings, but the world number two found a crucial break of serve in the seventh game of the opening set before going on to hold twice more to take the ascendancy.
Yastremska's resolve was broken further in an epic third game of the second set, surviving six break points before Sabalenka finally got over the line to tighten her grip on the match.
Sabalenka didn't look back from there, breaking Yastremska again before going on to seal her place in the fourth round.
Sabalenka will take on either Sara Errani or Anna Kalinskaya in the fourth round as she looks to win the Italian Open for the first time ahead of the French Open later this month, where she will bid to improve on her semi-final appearance last year.
Data debrief
Since 2018, when Sabalenka achieved her first WTA 1000 win, she is now the player with the joint-most wins in such events (90, equalling Iga Swiatek).
Sabalenka may have lost her three previous games against Yastremska, but the last meeting between the pair was in 2020, and the two-time grand slam champion showed how much her game has progressed since then as she won all nine of her service games while breaking her Ukrainian opponent three times on her way to victory.
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