Great Britain Secures Spot in Billie Jean King Cup Finals
World number 173 Harriet Dart (right) was the highest-ranked player in Great Britain's team.
Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage secured a straight-sets victory in their doubles match, ensuring Great Britain's progression to the Billie Jean King Cup finals in September with a commanding 3-0 win over Australia.
Partnering for the first time, Dart and Burrage defeated Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez 6-3, 6-4 on Melbourne's hard courts to clinch the best-of-five qualifying tie.
Earlier on Friday, Great Britain had claimed both singles matches. Seventeen-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic stunned Talia Gibson, who was ranked over 200 places higher, winning in straight sets on her competition debut. Following this, Dart recovered from a set down to defeat Kimberly Birrell.
"That feels amazing," said Burrage. "I'm proud of us for the way that we played, the way that we came out and managed to close that out."
Despite being considered underdogs due to the absence of four players ranked inside the singles top 100—Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Fran Jones, and Sonay Kartal—Great Britain overcame the ranking and experience gap to reach the finals for the third consecutive year. The team were semi-finalists in 2025.
In the doubles match, after being broken in their opening service game and falling behind 3-1, Dart and Burrage mounted a comeback with a five-game winning streak to take the first set.
The second set featured inconsistent serving from all four players, with four consecutive breaks leading to a 3-3 tie. Great Britain then secured a crucial break in the ninth game, and Burrage maintained composure to close out the match.
"They're two great players. They play a lot of doubles and it was our first time playing together," said Dart.
"It's crazy actually because we played pretty well and to be able to make the finals is just kind of surreal."
Great Britain is the second team to qualify for the eight-team finals in Shenzhen this September, joining hosts China. The team has reached the last four in the previous two tournaments. Australia, as the losing side, will compete in the play-offs scheduled for November.
- Live scores, results and order of play
- Get tennis news sent straight to your phone
