Emma Raducanu restored parity for Great Britain against the Czech Republic in the opening day of their Billie Jean King Cup qualifying matchup.
Harriet Dart got off on the right foot in her battle with Marketa Vondrousova to kick off proceedings - breaking her counterpart in the opening game - but the joy would end there for the world number 99.
Vondrousova won her next 12 games to claim an emphatic 6-1 6-0 win versus Dart, leaving Raducanu to try to level the scores on her very first match on the clay surface.
The US Open champion found herself up against world number 50 Tereza Martincova and was pushed all the way by the Czech player, who did not take her opportunity for a set point at 5-4 up.
Raducanu was also forced to battle back from 4-1 down in the second set but did so with maturity to claim a 7-5 7-5 victory and leave the qualifying battle delicately poised ahead of the weekend.
Raducanu will face Dart's conqueror Vondrousova in the third singles battle, while her fellow Brit meets Martincova before Katie Swan and Sonay Kartal prepare for a possible doubles decider.
Ben Knapton
