A second storm hit the Costa del Sol last night as Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter blew away defending champions Canada to reach the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals.
And Anne Keothavong’s team will now be red-hot favourites to beat underdogs Slovakia in the last four on Tuesday.
The start of the women’s World Cup of tennis was delayed last week because of torrential rain in Malaga.
But the British team have since left their own trail of destruction by winning both matches without dropping a set with devastating tennis. Raducanu needed only 28 minutes to bagel Canadian No.2 Rebecca Marino in the first set before winning 6-0 7-5.
And then British No.1 Boulter was too powerful for Leylah Fernandez, the world No.31 who secured the winning point for Canada in the final last year and reached the 2021 US Open final.
The Leicester City fan hit 14 winners and broke the Canadian left-hander’s serve five times to win 6-2 6-4.
“Emma makes it really easy to come out here and have a swing and 1-0 up so full credit to her for starting us off well,” said Boulter. “I just wanted to come out here and really go at the defending champs and hopefully get a win. Really pleased with myself.”
Captain Keothavong said: “Katie went out there and she was absolutely crunching the ball. It was fantastic to see. When she strikes the ball it is devastating. It’s a great position to go in when Emma sets the bar high. I couldn’t be prouder of the girls.”
Slovakia shocked the USA in the first round and yesterday beat Australia 2-0. But top player Rebecca Sramkova is ranked world No.43 and world No.159 Viktoria Hruncakova played as the Slovak No.2 yesterday.
“I said before the start of the competition that I really believe we have got a team who can win this competition,” Keothavong said.
“We are in it to win it. They have shown what they are capable of. They are quality tennis players. We are all highly motivated. But we are not there yet.”
Boulter added: “I definitely wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe we could win the tournament. I think we have got a great team. We’ve always got a great chance. We’re going to be in with the last four.
“We’re just going to keep believing, keep trusting it, and just keep enjoying it. I think that’s really important. It’s worked so well for us so far. I don’t think there is any pressure. I think we’re just enjoying ourselves.”
Raducanu has now won all four of her BJK Cup matches this year after saving seven break points in the second set against world No.103 Marino.
Toronto-born Raducanu, who emigrated to the UK with her family when she was two, said: “It was an incredibly difficult match because the dynamics were so different in each of the sets.”
Iga Swiatek’s Poland will face Jasmine Paolini’s Italy in Monday’s first semi-final.
