Emma Raducanu kept Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup hopes alive with an impressive 3-6 6-3 6-2 comeback against France’s Caroline Garcia.
Katie Boulter had struggled on Le Chaudron’s indoor clay courts earlier in the day, suffering a 6-2 6-0 defeat to Diane Parry.
It looked as if the hosts would be heading into the second day of competition with a two-match advantage when Garcia took the first set against Raducanu, before racing into a 2-0 lead in the second set.
But Raducanu finally clicked into gear, stunning Garcia – who recently beat Coco Gauff in Miami – by winning five games in a row. She then stepped up to serve out the set, taking the match to a decider.
The 2021 US Open champion was full of confidence in the third set, even thinking she had won the match despite only leading 5-1.
Raducanu quickly realised her mistake, and despite allowing Garcia to creep back into the encounter by winning a game, eventually wrapped up the victory.
“Sometimes I’m super locked in and I don’t get the score,” Raducanu said. “I don’t know what happened, but it was quite embarrassing.
“All I was thinking is if I lose this right now I’m going to look like a right muppet, so I’m very happy I managed to pull it through in the next game.”
It was Raducanu’s best victory by ranking since March 2023, shortly before she underwent surgery on her wrists and ankle.
After missing the majority of last season, the 21-year-old is now the lowest ranked member of Great Britain’s team, which also includes Boulter, Harriet Dart, Heather Watson and Francesca Jones.
“I’m very pleased with my performances and to bring this point home for the team,” Raducanu added.
“It’s very difficult to play against Caroline who has been having such good runs and many good seasons. I was completely the underdog coming out here in her house, on clay.
“I definitely turned it around, I fought really hard, I dug in and that was a really good test for myself as I haven’t had those level matches very often.”
Great Britain’s tie against France continues tomorrow as Boulter takes on Garcia and Raducanu comes up against Parry.
If the qualifier is still level, a deciding doubles match will be played to determine the winning team, who then books their place at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Seville in November.