Fed Cup

British hopes slip in Fed Cup

ESPN staff

February 4, 2010 « DeGale confirms Groves fight | ESPN FA Cup Promo »

Anne Keothavong had an unsuccessful comeback in both singles and doubles © Getty Images

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Team GB have suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Austria in their second Fed Cup group tie in Portugal, shattering their chances of progressing to the play-offs which could have hoisted them up in the world of women's tennis.

Captain Nigel Sears risked Anne Keothavong on her long-awaited return from a serious knee injury and the move backfired, Keothavong succumbing 6-2 6-2 to Austria's Patricia Mayr in the first match, before Elena Baltacha lost out 6-3 6-3 to world No.50 player Sybille Bammer to hand the tie, and the outright Group D lead, to Austria.

Keothavong teamed with Sarah Borwell in the doubles, but they were unable to salvage a point from the tie, going down 6-4 6-4 to Mayr and Yvonne Meusburger.

Austria are set to face the easiest Group D team in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday, and having already beaten Team GB's next opponents Belarus, are strong favourites to progress with only the top team from each group granted passage to the next phase. Team GB will likely remain in the Europe/Africa Zone I and return to this phase next year for their next promotion tilt.

Sears admitted after the tie his decision to inject Keothavong had not worked out, but insisted it was a necessary risk if the team was to have any chance of coming through Saturday's play-offs.

He said: "Naturally I'm disappointed. We were beaten by a better team on the day. It was a lot to ask from Annie K. I took a risk putting her in after being out for a long time, but she had been playing so well in practice I thought it was worth the risk and I knew that to get through perhaps the later stages of this group she would need to have some matches behind her and unfortunately she couldn't come up with it today, although Mayr played very well. It was a risk I took that didn't come off."

"It's a reflection of the strength of the Austrian team that they've won both singles against Belarus and us. I think the girls gave it their very best."