Great Britain will have to fight back from behind to reach the Billie Jean King Cup final after Heather Watson lost the opening rubber of the semi-final against Australia in Glasgow.
If Harriet Dart loses to Ajla Tomljanovic in the next singles rubber, Australia will secure victory.
If the Briton wins the best-of-three tie will go to a deciding doubles.
Watson was brilliant in Thursday's must-win group tie against Spain as Great Britain reached the last four, but could not reach the same level against an opponent ranked 104 places below her.
Sanders is better than her current ranking of 237 suggests, illustrated by her recent form on the ITF Tour and she has taken that into the BJK Cup Finals this week.