Great Britain suffered a poor start to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Glasgow with a 2-1 defeat against Kazakhstan in Group C.
Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart both lost their singles matches to Yulia Putintseva and Elena Rybakina respectively before Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls got the home nation on the board with a doubles win over Rybakina and Anna Danilina.
Boulter was first up for the home nation against world number 54 Putintseva, and despite winning the first set, she slumped to a 6-4 3-6 2-6 defeat in two hours and 10 minutes.
Boulter broke to love in the very first game of the match, but two double faults from the 26-year-old allowed Putintseva to break back straight away and get the contest quickly back on serve.
However, Boulter would immediately break to love again as her counterpart struggled on serve early doors, and she held well before double-faulting in the eighth game to hand Putintseva a break point.
The Kazakhstani failed to take it as Boulter wrapped up the first set, but she was then broken in the sixth game of the second set as Putintseva established a 4-2 lead.
Boulter could not break back as the opening match went all the way to a decider, and Putintseva game out all guns blazing in the third set to earn a double break in rapid time.
Two double faults from Boulter in the third game did not help matters as the 26-year-old went 4-0 down, and she was then forced to save as many as five break points in her next two service games.
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A ruthless Putintseva kept up her charge to seal an opening win before Dart took on reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina, and the world number 95 went down 1-6 4-6 in one hour and 13 minutes.
Despite managing to hold in her opening service game, Dart was soon blown away by Rybakina in the first set, with the 22-year-old winning five games on the spin as Dart racked up the double faults.
Dart did manage to go 40-0 up on Rybakina's serve in the seventh game, but she squandered all three break points before finally managing to take one such opportunity in the second set.
Rybakina quickly went a set and a break up, but Dart rallied to break to love in the fourth game of the second set before holding for a 3-2 lead, but she could not build on that positive episode.
Rybakina broke once more in the ninth game before seeing out the win which would condemn GB to defeat, and the Wimbledon winner then took to the final doubles match with Danilina against debutants Barnett and Nicholls, who restored some parity with a 7-5 6-3 win.
The British pair fell 4-3 down on serve before breaking back straight away to level the first set at 4-4, and Kazakhstan double faulted on set point to hand the home favourites a 1-0 lead.
It was an identical story for Rybakina and Danilina in the second set, as they were broken via a double fault in the fourth game and could not respond in the dying embers.
Great Britain will now aim to keep their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive when they take on Spain on Thursday, with the Iberian nation doing battle with Kazakhstan tomorrow.
Ben Knapton
