Sarah Borwell and Elena Baltacha came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory for AEGON Team GB against Belarus on the third day of the Europe/Africa Zone Group I Fed Cup by BNP Paribas tie in Lisbon, Portugal.
With the tie delicately poised at 1 rubber apiece, Borwell and Baltacha looked to have a tough task on their hands against Olga Govortsova and Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus, as their opponents accelerated to a 6-3, 3-0 lead. But digging deep and revving each other up, the British duo reeled off five games on the trot to lead 5-3 in the second set.
The Belarusians broke back, and then held to make it 5-5, but Baltacha and Borwell played the game of the match to break the Poutchek serve at the 11th hour. Baltacha served GB into a third set, and from then on, the Brits could do no wrong.
Roaring into a 5-1 lead in the third set, they had a match point, again on the Poutchek serve, but Govortsova stepped up her volleying to save the game. Falling to Borwell to secure the win, the British doubles' No.1 made no mistake, ramping up the speed on her serve to win the match on their fifth match point.
“It was an amazing performance, said a delighted Borwell. "It’s always good when you bring a match back from the brink of match points down. Just the energy Bally brings to the court is great and I’m pretty much the same, so it was a lot of fun – I really enjoyed it."
Earlier on Friday, Anne Keothavong won her second match back from injury, defeating Ekaterina Dzehalevich 7-6, 6-1 to give AEGON Team GB a 1-0 lead. Battling through a tough first set against the world No. 156, called up to play after Victoria Azarenka withdrew with illness, Keothavong let rip in the second set, securing a comfortable, confidence-boosting win.
""It's great to get a win," she said afterwards. "She's a tricky opponent. I saw her play Bally last year in Auckland and I've played her in the past and she's just awkward. You don't really know what to get, what's coming or going - whether it's some spinny sliced backspin thing or whether she's going to whack it, so she's a tricky opponent."
"It is just such a pleasure to be out there on the court-it really is. Even yesterday despite the loss it's really rewarding just to know you're back out there after months of hard work. And after I got through the first set I loosened it up and started hitting a bit more freely and gained a bit of confidence. Those are the kind of matches I need - these next few months are going to be tough for me, but this is a start!"
Facing world No. 55 Govortsova in the second singles rubber, Katie O'Brien gave her best efforts to secure a 2-0 win for AEGON Team GB, but was ultimately outplayed by her Belarusian opponent, going down 3-6, 3-6.
Although Team GB's hopes of making the promotion play-offs were dashed after Thursday's defeat to Austria, Captain Nigel Sears was extremely pleased with today's result.
“It was a very exciting match - a really great doubles match. To win a deciding doubles against a good team from a set and three-love down and to save two match points was excellent. I thought the girls played magnificently. I think the whole team played well today. Katie played a good match, but I thought Govortsova was exceptional – she was a lot better than when she played against Austria."
“It was so nice to see Annie K come back with a win after her disappointment yesterday. She is going to feel so good with a win behind her now having been out for so long. To come back and I thought she played more like her old self today and that was very nice to see too. I’m still disappointed not to have won this group but I guess finishing second is better than third!”
For a full account of GB's three enthralling matches against Belarus, click here to read our exclusive coverage as it happened.
In the fourth and final day of the tie in Lisbon, GB will face the Netherlands in the play-off for Fed Cup rankings points at 10am on Saturday. There will be live coverage on the LTA website for the build-up from 9am... Follow it live, with our exclusive coverage As It Happens
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