Great Britain may be missing Emma Raducanu in The Hague this week, but they still made a compelling start to their qualifying campaign as they romped to victory over Germany.
The two singles matches must both have been satisfying for team captain Anne Keothavong – albeit in very different ways – as Great Britain moved on to their decisive meeting with the Netherlands on Saturday in good heart.
First, Raducanu’s replacement Sonay Kartal scored a straight-sets victory over former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Jule Niemeier on what was Kartal’s Billie Jean King Cup debut.
And then British No 1 Katie Boulter managed to crack one of tennis’s most awkward puzzles: how do you beat slice-and-dice specialist Tatjana Maria on a bumpy indoor clay court?