The 16-year-old Sarnian starlet had already shown impressive form in Doha, winning her rubbers alongside Victoria Nicholas against both Germany in the final group-stage match and then Egypt in the first play-off encounter, before she took to the court with a new partner in British No 2 Catherine Rose in their penultimate play-off clash against the United States.
Team GB got a very early foothold in opening rubber in which Nicholas joined forces with Aimee Gibson, but not in the manner they would have wished.
At 30-0 in the very first game, USA’s star player Brittany Dubins rushed forward to touch a smash that had rebounded off the glass, but got tangled up in the net and injured her leg.
Following treatment, the world No 47, who was playing with Carla Rodriguez, continued with her left knee heavily bandaged, but her movement was visibly restricted.
After Gibson and Nicholas won the first set 6-1, Dubins decided she could not continue, and the players shook hands.
That allowed Rose and de la Mare to win the tie, up against USA’s Daniela Ruiz Alvarez and Ana Marija Zubori.
Conceding the opening set 6-4 set the nerves on edge, but the Guernsey teenager was outstanding yet again, despite the pressure of receiving the majority of balls.
De la Mare and Rose hit back strongly to take the second 6-1, then got a vital break at 3-3 in the decider, before wrapping it up with another break at 5-3 to seal a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 triumph.
That booked a place in the ninth/10th play-off match with Belgium on the final day of competition.
After a tight defeat for Lisa Phillips and Abigail Tordoff in the opening rubber, GB’s No 1 and No 2 Gibson and Rose recovered from a slow start to level the score.
GB’s 16-year-old revelation de la Mare and Nicholas faced a tough deciding clash with the world No 133s Justine Pysson and Elyne Boeykens.
It took only one break in the seventh game for Belgium’s leading pair to take the first set. They then broke the Brits in the first game of the second set and completed a 6-4, 6-3 win.
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