Billie Jean King Cup 2026: What to look out for on day two of Great Britain vs Australia
• 3 minute read
What a day for the Brits in their Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier against Australia, with both Mika Stojsavljevic and Harriet Dart picking up wins in their opening matches.
The Brits lead 2-0 heading into day two, needing just one rubber from the remaining three to qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in September.
Looking ahead to the second day at the John Cain Arena, and with everything still to play for, we break down four big questions for the remainder of the tie.
Can Dart get revenge for 2022?
Coming in as the team’s top-ranked player this week, Dart is the only member of the squad who featured the last time Great Britain faced Australia in the 2022 semi-finals in Glasgow.
On the day, Dart clinched a fantastic win over Ajla Tomljanovic to draw the team level, before the Australians won the tie in a doubles deciding match tie-break – meaning GB missed a place in the final.
Four years later and Dart is now leading the charge against Australia in their own back yard, and has started the tie very well.
In a match that saw 16 breaks of serve, Dart came back from a set down to beat world No.80 Kimberly Birrell 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and give the Brits a two match advantage.
Dart still has a big role to play if Great Britain are going to finish this tie off. First, she will need to combine with Jodie Burrage in the doubles against experienced duo Ellen Perez and Storm Hunter before facing Talia Gibson in the fourth match – can she deal the Aussies the final blow on day two and claim revenge for 2022?
Will Stojsavljevic’s dream debut continue?
Arguably the biggest story coming out of day one in Melbourne was the incredible debut from 17-year-old Stojsavljevic.
Up against one of the most in-form WTA players of the 2026 season in Talia Gibson, Stojsavljevic showed every bit of the quality that took her to a junior US Open title in 2024, winning 7-6(4), 7-5.
Stojsavljevic showed her resilience to save five break points on her final service game at 5-5 in the second set before sealing the match after just over two hours.
She becomes the third British woman to win on their Billie Jean King Cup singles debut out of the last four debutants – alongside Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal.
Stojsavljevic is poised to play what could be the deciding rubber tomorrow. If Australia win the opening two matches then she will have to face Birrell in a showdown clash, where she will be aiming to replicate Kartal’s heroics from 2025, winning both matches in her first team nomination.
Can Burrage be the match winner once again?
Last year, Jodie Burrage experienced what she described as ‘one of the best moments of her career’ in a deciding doubles rubber against the Netherlands.
Burrage and Katie Boulter combined to deliver the all-important win that sent Great Britain into the Finals and this year, she has the opportunity to do it once again.
Burrage and Dart only need to win their doubles rubber to book GB’s place in September’s Finals, but standing in their way is arguably one of the strongest pairings in the competition.
Perez and Hunter are both top 20 WTA doubles players and were part of the team that finished runners-up in the competition back in 2022.
They have lots of experience playing together and both have reached the latter stages of Grand Slams – including a US Open mixed doubles title and Wimbledon women’s doubles final for Hunter.
The Brits will have to be at the top of their game, but fuelled by the results from day one and Burrage’s past success in these pressure doubles matches, could they complete the clean sweep?
How will the Brits handle the pressure?
Captain Anne Keothavong said that Great Britain were clear underdogs coming into the tie – with Australia boasting four players inside the WTA singles or doubles top 80.
However, the opening two matches have shown anything but, with the British stars rising to the occasion to deliver standout results for their country.
Going into day two the script has slightly shifted. While the pressure may have been more on Australia to deliver at home in the first two matches, it’s now firmly on the Brits to get the job done and complete what would be an historic win.
Outside of Dart, this is a relatively inexperienced Great Britain team, so it will be interesting to see how Keothavong’s side respond to this new type of environment.
They’ve shown they can do it in big matches on the tour and now it’s time to bring it on the big stage for their nation.
