(Tennis news) British tennis player Emma Raducanu will take on Tereza Martincova in her Billie Jean King Cup singles debut on Friday. The British team will face Czech Republic on clay at the Tennis Club I.CLTK Prague, the venue of the 1986 finals and comprises Raducanu, Harriet Dart, Katie Swan and Sonay Kartal. The winner of the qualifiers will advance to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November while the losers will take part in the 2023 Qualifiers Play-Offs.

Raducanu, currently ranked 12th in the world, was selected alongside British No 2 Harriet Dart to play in the opening singles match on Friday. Dart will take on Marketa Vondrousova before Raducanu faces Martincova. Both the players will swap opponents with the potential for a deciding doubles match to follow. It’s a landmark event for the 19 year old, as she will not only be making her senior Great Britain debut but will also be playing her first professional match on clay.

Speaking before the match, Raducanu said “This is going to be my first professional match on clay so I'm definitely learning. I feel this could be one of my strongest surfaces going forward but of course, it's early days right now. I feel like I have got a lot more potential, physically and I do enjoy sliding. So, after spending more time on this surface, I'm sure I'll time it better and learn more about the surface but also just the time that the clay brings. I feel like I can really use it and play aggressively." 

Great Britain are currently ranked 15th amongst 115 nations at the Billie Jean King Cup while the Czech team is fifth and seeded fourth for the qualifiers. However, they will be without French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova. World doubles No 1 Katerina Siniakova was also a late injury withdrawal for the Czech Republic team. 

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