by Emma Raducanu ended a decade-long jinx for British women with a stunning performance, surely her best since the 2021 US Open final, to defeat Diane Parry in front of a raucous French crowd.
The win completed Great Britain’s surprise 3-1 win over France – the sixth-placed team in this tournament – and sends them through to the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup in Seville in November.
This is the first time the British have qualified for finals week on merit, even if they did earn a wild card in 2022 by hosting the competition in Glasgow. For the last comparable performance, you’d have to go back to 1990, when a team featuring Jo Durie and Clare Wood lost to Austria in the quarter-finals.
“I don’t know who said Brits can’t play on clay,” said a triumphant Raducanu after her 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 win in 2 hours 52 minutes. “But today was a test of that [showed] We can.”
It is difficult to know what was more impressive: the technical level of Raducanu’s tennis throughout, the tenacity she showed in her second comeback win in a matter of days, or the mental steel that saw her bounce back from missing two games. points in her penultimate service game.
Suffice it to say, this was a great event and it ended with a big finish as Raducanu dominated the final league match with a flawless run of points, landing every hundred serves and producing some magical returns in the boot.
She had never played in an atmosphere like this before, with at least two and a half thousand French fans barracking for her in a venue called Le Chaudron (The Cauldron). But she channeled the negative energy into her streaks, finding deep reserves of energy and inspiration when she needed it most.
The significance of this result should not be underestimated, as Great Britain have not won another grand slam nation in the BJK Cup (formerly the Fed Cup) since 1981, when Sue Barker and Virginia Wade filled the singles spots. For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, the team was stuck in the second or even third tier of the competition alongside elites such as Armenia or Egypt.
“I’m very happy to make it to the Finals,” Raducanu said after her win, “and I think, after all those efforts, we deserve it on our own merits.”
She also made it a point to give credit to teammate Katie Boulter, who scored a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Clara Burel earlier in the day to record her first ever Tour-level win on clay.
“Katie did a great job this morning and it helped a lot going into this game, knowing we were 2-1. In the worst case it goes to a double decision. But I didn’t want to reach that point, of course, because they are one of the best teams, probably the best doubles in the world.”
Earlier, Boulter attributed much of her own success to an overnight message from Raducanu, which consoled her for the 6-2, 6-0 defeat she suffered at the hands of Parry on the first day.
“I definitely replayed that game a few times last night,” said Boulter, who admitted she didn’t sleep much. “I just wanted to improve my performance.
“The most important thing was that I came out today and I fought, and I continued to fight. I just played my way. I received a very sweet message from Emma last night which made my day a great start after her incredible performance [against Caroline Garcia on the first afternoon].
“That’s what bothered me the most today. She said a few nice words that mean a lot coming from someone like her. She is such a big star and I have a lot of respect for what she has done in the sport and how she plays and how hard she works. I have a lot to learn from her.”
The French came in with the higher ranking, home advantage and greater expertise on clay. But they are also known for cleanliness. This time, that involved a curious decision by captain Julien Benneteau to drop their best player in favor of Burel, who had only played one singles match before in the tournament.
Burel served for the first set against Boulter, but was broken, and her nerves seemed to give way. By the final game of an increasingly one-sided match she could barely get on the court and was being booed by her own supporters. One can only hope that Burel is not too scattered by the experience, as she is a former junior world No. 1 who can go on to achieve a lot in the game.
