Fed Cup: Heather Watson overpowers Ipek Soylu to give GB lead

Posted: Feb 10, 2017

Heather Watson powered Great Britain to a 1-0 lead in their final best-of-three Fed Cup match with Turkey in Estonia.

Watson, ranked 72nd in the world, registered a 6-0 6-1 victory over 163rd-ranked Ipek Soylu in one hour and 3 minutes.

Great Britain are top of Group C after successive 3-0 victories over Portugal and Latvia.

Victory will guarantee their place in Saturday’s promotion play-offs, where they would face the winners of Pool B.

British number one Johanna Konta is next in action when she takes on world number 86 Cagla Buyukakcay in the second singles match.

Fed Cup format

Unlike the men’s team competition, the Davis Cup, which has a World Group of 16 nations, the Fed Cup divides its top teams into two groups of eight – World Group I and World Group II.

The 91 nations outside the top tiers are divided into three regional zones and Britain have one chance per year to escape – a format that hugely frustrated former captain Judy Murray.

The Europe/Africa Group I event, which this year takes place in Estonia, has 14 teams divided into groups, with Poland, Croatia, Britain and Serbia the seeded nations.

Four group winners will progress to promotion play-offs on Saturday, and two nations will then qualify for World Group II play-offs in April – which could see Britain given a home Fed Cup tie for the first time since 1993.

They fell at the same stage in 2012 and 2013 – away ties in Sweden and Argentina – under the captaincy of Judy Murray.