Wednesday 21 August 2019 15:57, UK
Great Britain have been handed an away draw against Slovakia in the qualifiers for the 2020 Fed Cup Finals.
Anne Keothavong's side triumphed 3-1 against Kazakhstan in April to return to the World Group for the first time since 1993 in what has proved to be the final season of the current format.
The winners will progress to the inaugural 12-team Fed Cup Finals to be held in Budapest in April while the losers face a play-off, also in April, for a place in the 2021 qualifiers.
This year's finalists Australia and France having already booked their places alongside the hosts Hungary and wild cards the Czech Republic.
The tie in Slovakia will follow a best-of-five match format [four singles and one doubles] and will be played on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 February 2020.
British No 1 Johanna Konta has won her last 11 singles matches in the competition and, at 16 in the world, is by some distance the highest-ranked player from either country.
However, Konta is currently the only British woman in the top 100 while Slovakia have three - Viktoria Kuzmova, Dominika Cibulkova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Slovakia won the title in 2002 and have competed at World Group level every year since 2006.
