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The United States bowed out of the Billie Jean King Cup finals in the first round with a 2-1 loss to Slovakia on Thursday in Malaga, Spain.

After the teams split two singles matches, Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia got past Ashlyn Krueger and Taylor Townsend 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in doubles. The Americans were on the brink of elimination at 9-2 before saving six straight match points, but the Slovakians got the job done on their seventh try.

Townsend won her singles match 7-5, 6-4 over Renata Jamrichova, but Rebecca Sramkova struck back for Slovakia with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Danielle Collins.

In the quarterfinals, Slovakia will face Australia, one of four teams to receive a first-round bye.

Thursday’s other match also needed to be decided in doubles. Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi saved 9 of 10 break points on their way to defeating Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-1, 7-5.

Japan next will face Italy, the 2023 runners-up.

–Field Level Media