Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter to miss Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Australia
By Will Conroy
Published 12/03/2026 at 19:16 GMT
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Great Britain will be without three of their top four players at next month's Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Australia in Melbourne, with Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Francesca Jones all set to be absent from the match. Raducanu had already committed to playing the WTA 500 clay court tournament in Linz. British No. 2 Sonay Kartal is among the four names to be selected so far.
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Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter will not feature in Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Australia next month.
Britain's No. 1 Raducanu had already committed to playing the WTA 500 clay court tournament in Linz, Austria, during the same week as the tie in Melbourne.
Francesca Jones will also be absent from the match, meaning Britain will be without three of their four highest-ranked players.
However, British No. 2 Sonay Kartal has been selected by captain Anne Keothavong, along with Harriet Dart, Jodie Burrage and 17-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic.
A fifth player can be added to the team closer to the start of the contest, which will take place on April 10-11.
Announcing her four-woman line-up, Keothavong said: "Playing away from home against a strong nation like Australia is going to be tough, but we always embrace these weeks together as a team and will be up for the challenge in Melbourne.
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"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.
"It's an iconic sporting venue, and we'd really love for all the Brits in Melbourne to come along and cheer us on in April."
It had been expected that Keothavong would struggle to persuade the higher-ranked players to feature in the hard-court tie, which comes as the European clay court swing begins.
Kartal has an impressive record in the Billie Jean King Cup, though, having won three of her four matches in the competition.
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Sonay Kartal was forced to retire from her fourth-round match at Indian Wells this week
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She also showed promising form at Indian Wells this week, beating Madison Keys en route to the fourth round, where she was forced to pull out due to a back injury against Elena Rybakina.
Talia Gibson, who has overcome three top-20 players to reach the last eight at Indian Wells, has been selected by Australia.
She will be joined in the team by Maya Joint, Storm Hunter, Kimberly Birrell and Ellen Perez.
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It will be a best-of-five-match tie between Britain and Australia, consisting of four singles matches and one doubles contest.
The Billie Jean King Cup finals, made up of eight teams, will take place in Shenzhen in September.
Britain reached the semi-finals last year, where they were beaten 2-0 by the United States, with Boulter and Kartal losing against Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro respectively.
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