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London:Â Australia's hopes of returning to the head table of women's tennis are hanging by a thread after Alicia Molik's team lost the opening two singles rubbers of their Fed Cup World Group II tie against Ukraine in Kharkiv.
Ashleigh Barty, also scheduled to contest Sunday's potentially decisive doubles rubber with Casey Dellacqua, took the first set against world No.13 Evina Svitolina before Svitolina took the match 4-6 6-1 6-2.
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Barty raced through her opening service game in the second set but from then on it was all one-way traffic as Svitolina won 11 consecutive games to take the second set in 24 minutes and set up a commanding 5-0 lead in the third. The Australian won two consolation points including a break at the death but the damage was done.
Earlier, Gavrilova was defeated in straight sets by Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in the opening rubber.
Tsurenko, ranked No.54 in the world, went into the tie having won all three of her previous meetings with Gavrilova and kept that record intact with a 6-2 6-3 win.
Gavrilova broke Tsurenko's serve in the first game but that was as good as it got for Australia's No.26, who was unable to maintain the form which saw her make it to the fourth round of the Australian Open last month.
Daria Gavrilova has lost her Fed Cup rubber against Karolina Pliskova. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
The Ukrainian broke back almost immediately and took the first set with ease in 31 minutes. Again Gavrilova broke in the opening game of the second but she was unable to capitalise, losing the set in 43 minutes and was visibly frustrated after the match.