Billie Jean King Cup Finals: Emma Raducanu wins first match since September to give Great Britain early impetus

Emma Raducanu has returned to action for the first time since September in which she retired during the Korea Open and looked sharp as she took down Jule Niemeier to give Great Britain early impetus at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

Raducanu won through 6-4, 6-4 seeing off the German with Katie Boulter now looking to do her part to bring Great Britain over the line without having to go to doubles. It is not the first time that the former US Open champion has starred in this format though this year.

She was the main protagonist during their win over France which made it perhaps more puzzling that she decided then to skip the clay court season mostly when she was gaining such a head of steam.

She also was nearly on the verge of not playing with her recent withdrawals seeing her perhaps heading towards ending her season but she answered the call and it was a shrewd decision in this case.

In particular in the first set, her serve was utterly fantastic. She dealt with the pressure and situation better than Niemeier to claim it 6-4. She hit seven aces including four as she held for 5-3 and won 80% of her points on the first serve. She said previously that she did not feel too far behind despite not playing for over two months but still she showed little rust. She also managed to break to begin set two and was seemingly surging towards the finish.

But Niemeier got some hope. Raducanu broke twice in a row for 5-2 but she started to falter when she was serving for it. She spurned a match point and handed it to the German who made it 5-3 and then 5-4 saving three more match points in the process.

But finally on the sixth attempt, that hope was expunged as Raducanu claimed the win and now it is onto the lead player for the team in Katie Boulter to seal the deal against Laura Siegemund.