GB beaten by Japan to miss out on promotion
Stuttgart : Johanna Konta and Heather Watson were beaten by Miyu Kato and Makoto Ninomiya in the deciding doubles rubber.
Great Britain narrowly missed out on qualification for Fed Cup World Group II after losing the deciding set of their tie with Japan in Miki.
Johanna Konta beat Naomi Osaka 6-3 6-3 to move GB to within one win of promotion but Heather Watson was beaten 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 by Kurumi Nara as Japan levelled the tie.
Konta and Watson then joined forces in the doubles and looked set to lead Britain to glory when they won the first set, but Japanese pair Miyu Kato and Makoto Ninomiya rallied for a 3-6 6-3 6-3 victory to send Japan, and not Britain, up.
Watson and Konta started slowly as the Japanese duo reeled off five points in a row to break the Konta serve in the opening game and then held their own serve to love to move 2-0 ahead.
However, Konta and Watson rallied to win five games in a row and take control of the set, establishing a 5-2 lead.
Kato and Ninomiya stopped the rot to get it back to 5-3 but Konta held to 15 to close out the set.
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