Great Britain ease past Japan and into semi-finals of Billie Jean King Cup

Great Britain made light work of a quarter-final tie with Japan to set up a semi-final clash against the USA in the Billie Jean King Cup.

Sonay Kartal got the British team off to a strong start in Shenzhen with a straight sets win against Ena Shibahara, taking the first set 6-3 before winning a tie-break in the second to prevail 6-3 7-6(4).

Katie Boulter then faced Moyuka Uchijima and she too did not drop a set when winning 6-2 6-1 in just over an hour.

Kartal kept her composure when a dominant first set was followed by a tougher battle in the second, but even under the pressure of a tie-break her focus did not waver and she ultimately got the job done to continue a good run in the tournament.

She said: “I think one of my biggest strengths on the court is…you wouldn’t really see any emotion, you wouldn’t know if I was winning or losing from the sidelines.

“It was obviously a little bit closer in the second set than I would have liked but I still felt confident.

“Even being down in the tie-break, I still felt like as long as I did the few things I had to remind myself of, I felt like my game was there.

“I just wanted to keep the momentum going and I felt pretty comfortable.

“The supporters for us got behind us for every single point, and it makes a huge difference having the other girls on the sidelines and the support within the crowd – we don’t take that for granted.”

Boulter dominated her clash with Uchijima, wrapping the evening up swiftly to pave her team’s way to a semi-final to savour on September 20.

“It’s another opportunity, I’ve been in this position twice before,” she said of the prospect of facing the USA.

“Myself, I know what to expect, they’ve got some world-class tennis players down the other end but they also don’t know what we’re capable of.

“We’re going to have a free swing and get after them for sure, we’ve got nothing to lose and I’m very excited for this next round.

“I’m really pleased with how I played today, I’ve felt like a new version of myself these past couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to building some momentum from that.”

The USA were made to work hard to secure their place in the last four as they overcame Kazakhstan in a quarter-final which required both singles games and the doubles match to settle.

The USA’s Emma Navarro got proceedings under way, defeating Yulia Putintseva 7-5 2-6 7-6 (8), before Elena Rybakina brought Kazakhstan level with a 6-4 6-1 triumph over Jessica Pegula.

In the deciding doubles match, Pegula returned alongside Taylor Townsend to take the first set 6-2 against Rybakina and Putintseva, with the second a more close run thing as a tie-break sealed victory for the Americans 6-2 7-6 (1).

Pegula admitted she “had to shift my mindset really quickly” to put the disappointment of her singles loss behind her and return for the doubles, but she added: “I’ve done it before.

“I’ve played team events, I’ve played singles and doubles, I’m usually playing both. I just took it as a challenge and wanted to kind of redeem myself a little bit out there, try and help my team get a win.

“Even though I wasn’t able to do it on the singles court, we had a chance to take it in doubles. I haven’t played with Taylor in such a long time, so that was fun to get back playing with her.”

Townsend added: “We just raised our level. We were focused on doing the right things, having great energy.

“We had great energy on the sidelines from our team and Lindsay (Davenport, captain) on the bench. That always helps a lot when there’s so much positivity flowing. We really had a great time out there. It feels great to get the win.”