Great Britain have seen their hopes of getting promotion to the Fed Cup World Group II after defeat to Belarus. Both Joanna Konta and Heather Watson lost their singles matches and the doubles match wasn't played after Belarus were already through to the next round of play-offs.
Konta, who starred against Ukraine on Friday, couldn't find the same form as she was defeated comfortably 6-0 6-1 by Olga Govortsova in less than an hour. Watson had a more difficult test, up against former world number one Victoria Azarenka, now ranked 44 in the world after returning from injury. The two time Australian Open champion quickly opened up a 3-0 lead over the Brit, before Watson mounted a comeback and broke back to tie the set at 4-4. But Azarenka stepped up once again, with her superior power and strength of shot too much for Watson as she won the important points to take the first set. Watson did well to take the match to Azarenka in the second set but, although the score doesn't represent the closeness, the Belarusian ran out the comfortable winner 6-4 6-1 in an hour and 16 minutes.