GB's Fed Cup team blow it again as Johanna Konta and Heather Watson lose crucial doubles clash against Japan

Great Britain’s Fed Cup jinx continued on Sunday in Miki as a little-known Japanese doubles pairing sealed a comeback win in the final rubber of the tie.

Makoto Niyomiya and Miyu Kato are ranked 40 and 55 in the doubles world respectively, with a single WTA title apiece. Their selection for the deciding match threw up an old chestnut of team tennis: can two doubles specialists beat a pair of quality singles players – in this case Johanna Konta and Heather Watson? And the answer, as Japan delivered a tense 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory, was yes.

Konta had earlier provided the perfect start to Great Britain’s day when she overcame Naomi Osaka, one of the form players of the circuit, in the clash between the two singles No. 1s. At that stage, the visitors held a promising 2-1 lead overall.

But Watson was wasteful in her own encounter with Kurumi Nara, the Japanese No. 2, who is ranked 23 places below her at No. 100 in the world. She led 5-3 in the first set before being broken back, then held three set points at 6-3 in the tie-break. But Watson came in on a five-match losing streak and her confidence is leaky. She went down to a 7-6, 6-4 defeat and then lacked the required consistency in the doubles rubber.

Konta gave Niyomiya and Kato problems in the decider with her powerful serves and flat groundstrokes, but the Japanese were the more composed of the two teams, and could be seen laughing at most changeovers as they remained apparently immune to the pressure of the occasion. Above all, the Japanese first-serve percentage of 72 was impressively high. They are both small women, so there was no great power on those serves, but they put the ball in awkward places and controlled the court with solid volleying.

This was the fourth time in seven years that Great Britain had earned a play-off to return to the Fed Cup’s World Group – a level they have not reached since 1983. Frustratingly, it was also the fourth time that they had drawn an away tie. And this result now makes it four straight defeats on the road.

They did at least come closer than in their previous outings, against Sweden (2012), Argentina (2013) and Romania (2017). This was the first time that they had shared the singles matches 2-2, rather than conceding a decisive 3-1 deficit and thus rendering the doubles academic. But the narrowness of the margins will be little consolation to Anne Keothavong’s team as they set out on their long journey back to Europe on Monday night.

Keothavong said: “Right now, we are gutted about the result. One day, our opportunity will come. If you keep knocking on the door, it will eventually open.”