MALAGA, Spain—Great Britain are through to the quarterfinals of the Billie Jean King Cup after a dominant performance against Germany in Malaga. Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter lived up to their status as favorites in the tie, sweeping Jule Niemeier and Laura Siegemund aside in straight sets to hand GB a 2-0 win.
Both teams had to contend with a difficult build up to the match following the severe weather alert that struck Malaga on Wednesday, causing flooding and power outages and leading to the postponement of the BJK Cup’s opening match. With the city in a 24-hour lockdown, all transport was suspended and all training sessions were canceled.
It meant neither team had more than an hour’s time to practice on the centre court at the Palacio de Deportes, but they dealt with the challenge in very different ways. While the German team trained behind closed doors and limited their media exposure to avoid distractions, Great Britain turned up to their rescheduled pre-match press conference in buoyant mood. With Heather Watson filiming the room in her self-appointed role as “content creator”, the team joked about celebrating Raducanu’s birthday with a yoga session and “just a small piece” of chocolate cake.
