Forced to try again next year

Britain's Fed Cup captain Nigel Sears rued his team's failure to win promotion from their Fed Cup group after completing their campaign with a 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands.

Britain were hoping to climb out of Europe/Africa zone Group I, however that ambition had been quashed earlier in the week, after the team failed to finish top of their round-robin section due to a defeat by Austria.

In the play-offs, which influence Fed Cup rankings points rather than promotion slots, Britain lost on Saturday despite Anne Keothavong putting Sears' side in front.

Keothavong beat Chayenne Ewijk 7-6 (7/5) 6-3, but Katie O'Brien then lost 7-5 3-6 6-4 to Arantxa Rus.

Sarah Borwell and O'Brien then lost the deciding doubles match 6-2 6-4 against Richel Hogenkamp and Nicole Thyssen.

Sears said: "We came here with the intention to win the group and gain promotion and we ended up finishing second in the group and, of course, without promotion, which means we're still in the same group, so from that perspective it wasn't mission achieved.

"In terms of the efforts that the girls put in - I think they all gave their very best. And we lost to a good team in Austria on the day. We'll just have to continue working at it and come back with an even stronger effort next year."