MELBOURNE, Australia – In a decisive Saturday doubles clash at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena, Great Britain booked its place in the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup finals after Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage pulled off a straight-sets win over Australian pair Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez, sealing a 3-1 overall victory in the best-of-five qualifying tie. The British squad had already built a commanding 2-0 advantage on the opening day of play, thanks to two gritty singles wins from rising star and 17-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic and veteran Harriet Dart. Stojsavljevic overcame Australia’s Talia Gibson in a tight two-set battle, closing out the match 7-6(4), 7-5, while Dart bounced back from a slow first set to defeat Kimberly Birrell 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, putting Britain just one win away from qualification. Australia picked up a consolation win in the reverse singles, where 17-year-old homegrown talent Emerson Jones defeated Britain’s Katie Swan 7-5, 6-3 to adjust the final tie score to 3-1. The Billie Jean King Cup, the premier global women’s national team tennis tournament previously known as the Fed Cup, will host its 2025 finals in Shenzhen, China this coming September. As the host nation, China has already earned an automatic qualification spot for the finals stage. Six more spots in the 8-team finals lineup will be decided by the end of Saturday, with six high-stakes qualifying ties still wrapping up around the globe: defending champion Italy faces Japan, Kazakhstan takes on Canada, Switzerland goes head-to-head against the Czech Republic, Slovenia meets Spain, Belgium battles the United States, and Poland clashes with Ukraine. Teams that fall short in this round of qualifying will not go home empty-handed: they will move on to the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs scheduled for November, where spots for the 2027 tournament qualification will be determined. For more coverage of professional tennis, visit the Associated Press’ dedicated tennis hub at https://apnews.com/hub/tennis.