- Raducanu gave Britain the perfect start by earning another straight sets victory
- Katie Boulter was a set up but ultimately lost to Rebecca Sramkova in a key tie
- Heather Watson and Olivia Nicolls were then hammered in the deciding doubles
Great Britain were out-barked and out-bitten in the battle of the underdogs, bundled out of the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals by a ferocious Slovak comeback.
Emma Raducanu completed a third-consecutive straight-sets win but Katie Boulter lost from a set down and Heather Watson and Olivia Nicolls were hammered in the doubles.
Slovakia will try to win their second title against four-time champions Italy on Wednesday.
What a missed opportunity this was for GB to win a first-ever Billie Jean King Cup. The two titans of the USA and Czech Republic will not be as weak as this for some time.
Raducanu was first up and she beat Viktoria Hruncakova 6-4, 6-4, her third straight-sets win of the event.
Great Britain missed out on a place in the Billie Jean King Cup Final by losing to Slovakia
Emma Raducanu gave Britain the perfect star with a straight sets win over Viktoria Hruncakova
Slovakia stormed back to win the second singles match before a dominant doubles victory
That gave Boulter the chance to seal the tie and after sweeping through the first set 6-2 it looked as though another thrashing was on the cards for a woman who has crushed all comers this fortnight.
But with visions of the final shimmering on the horizon, for the first time this fortnight some hairline cracks of tension began to appear in the Boulter game.
She dragged a succession of backhands into the top of the net, a clear indication that a tennis player’s nerves have knocked their radar off course.
Sramkova has zoomed from 136 in the world to 43rd in just two months and as Boulter dipped she rose, dominating the second set.
As the players sat down between sets the contrast between the two team benches were stark. The Slovaks were on their feet and capering around as YMCA boomed out from the speakers; Team GB were slumped in their chairs.
Third set. This was great theatre now, Sramkova was bouncing, Boulter scratching around for some form and screaming with every point won.
Boulter missed a simple volley, failed to put away a soft drop shot – anything that required her hands to be soft and relaxed was not coming easily.
Katie Boulter admitted struggling to find her first serve in her defeat by Rebecca Sramkova
Heather Watson and Olivia Nicholls were outplayed in the doubles as Slovakia progressed
But as long as she had her forehand she had hope and a few blows brought her back on serve for 2-3. At 4-4 she went big again and at 30-30 on the Sramkova serve she had her chance with a simple volley to bring up break point. But she hit a hard-handed stab into the net and her opponent never looked back.
‘I came out firing on all cylinders,’ said Boulter. ‘Then I played a couple of points on serve where I couldn’t find a first serve and she gained a bit of momentum. I gave it everything I had, I fought with everything I had but I couldn’t get the job done.’
A fair assessment. Boulter’s first serve percentage was down at 51 and for a first-strike player like her that was never going to get the job.
Those were the first sets GB’s singles duo had dropped this week, meaning Watson and Nicholls came into this massive doubles rubber with zero match practice. Their opponents Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova had knocked out the USA a few days earlier and never looked like losing, taking a 4-0 lead and running out 6-2, 6-2 winners to send Slovakia through.
