No Raducanu or Boulter in GB's BJK Cup squad

Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter will be absent when Great Britain face Australia in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifier next month.

“- Published Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter will be absent when Great Britain face Australia in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifier next month”

BBC

Raducanu, the British number one and world number 24, has committed to playing the WTA 500 clay-court tournament in Linz, Austria, which runs across the same week.

BBC

Boulter, ranked 64th in the world, also misses the tie.

GB captain Anne Keothavong has selected Sonay Kartal, Harriet Dart, Jodie Burrage and 17-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic for the contest that will be staged in Melbourne on 10-11 April, with a fifth player able to be added nearer the time.

Keothavong said she expected it would be a 'tough' best-of-five encounter and noted it was difficult to persuade the top British players to travel to Australia for a hard-court tie at a time when the European clay court season is getting under way.

BBC

She added: 'We always embrace these weeks together as a team and will be up for the challenge.'

She said: 'We've got players with great experience in this competition in our team and it's an exciting opportunity for Mika to join the senior team for the first time.'

Sonay Kartal will be hoping to repeat the form that saw her reach the fourth round at Indian Wells this week before withdrawing with a lower back injury during her match against Elena Rybakina.

“- Published Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter will be absent when Great Britain face Australia in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifier next month”

BBC

The article reports her recent withdrawal and injury without further medical detail.

Australia have named their squad as Talia Gibson, Maya Joint, Storm Hunter, Kimberly Birrell and Ellen Perez.

The article notes Gibson has beaten three top-20 players at Indian Wells en route to the quarter-finals.

BBC

It adds that the eight-team Billie Jean King Cup finals will be held in Shenzhen in the week beginning 21 September and that Great Britain reached the semi-finals last year.