Monday 24 April 2017 10:50, UK
Johanna Konta and Heather Watson both suffered straight sets defeats as Great Britain were beaten by Romania in their Fed Cup World Group II play-off in Constanta.
The tie, dominated on Saturday by controversial remarks from Romania captain Ilie Nastase, was tied at 1-1 going into Sunday's reverse singles but Konta was comprehensively beaten 6-1 6-3 by Simona Halep and Watson was unable to keep British hopes alive against Irina-Camelia Begu as she lost 6-4 7-5.
Konta had beaten Sorana Cirstea to level the tie on Saturday after being left in tears following abusive comments by Nastase, who also flung insults at the umpire before the International Tennis Federation removed his accreditation.
But she was unable to reach anything like her best against world No 5 Halep, who overcame the loss of the first three points to win 10 on the bounce and storm into a 4-0 lead.
Halep took three of the four break points she secured and claimed the opening set in only 27 minutes.
Konta regrouped at the start of the second set and broke to lead 3-1, but Halep's blip was only brief as she reeled off five straight games to secure victory and give Romania a 2-1 lead.
The British No 1 said: "I think it's really important for me to separate what happened yesterday and the tennis match today. I think Simona played well and came out and played a lot freer than I was expecting.
"There's obviously an effect that yesterday had on me. However, it has to be about the tennis and I gave my best today with what I had.
"I think it'll be something I'll do my best to overcome and to just understand. It's not something I've ever experienced before and I hope never to experience it again. I felt the crowd today were a lot fairer and I felt they supported Simona well."
That left Watson having to win to keep Britain in the match but she was unable to make the most of her chances in a tense clash with Begu.
Watson's serve let her down on a number of occasions, being broken three times in the opening set and twice more in the second.
The fifth of those breaks gave Begu the chance to serve for the match, and she was able to hold serve and secure a 6-4 7-5 win before running over to celebrate with the rest of her team, minus the controversial Nastase whose captaincy role had been taken by reserve player Monica Niculescu.
