Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup Finals jubilation turned to heartache as they lost 2-1 in the semi-finals to Australia in Glasgow.
Anne Keothavong's team were bouncing after reaching the final four for the first time since 1981 earlier this week, but they came unstuck against the Australians.
While Harriet Dart continued her stunning streak with victory over Alja Tomljanovic, Heather Watson opened proceedings with a defeat to Storm Sanders before Olivia Nicholls and Alicia Barnett lost their deciding doubles rubber against Storm and Samantha Stosur.
Watson had produced one of the finest performances of her career to beat Spain's Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Thursday, but she went down 4-6 6-7[3] to Sanders in a two-hour and six minute battle.
After missing two break points in the opening game, Sanders earned her first break for a 2-1 lead in the third, but Watson was not ceding control of the contest easily by any means.
The Briton brought up two break points of her own in the first set but failed to take either of them, as Sanders edged ahead in the closely-fought battle before being broken by her opponent straight away in the second set.
However, Watson was pegged back to 2-2 after going 2-0 up as the second set went all the way to a tiebreaker, which Sanders dominated to earn the opening win for Australia.
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Fresh from a previous win over Paula Badosa, Dart was up next against Grand Slam quarter-finalist Tomljanovic, and the 26-year-old prevailed 7-6[3] 6-2 in one hour and 49 minutes.
Dart got off to a blistering start and stormed into a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Tomljanovic earned the break back in the ninth game to force a tiebreaker, which Dart held her own and prevailed in.
The second set was a much more straightforward affair for Dart, who broke in the first and fifth games before a love hold sealed another eye-catching win for the world number 98.
The pressure was on Nicholls and Barnett to deliver in the deciding doubles rubber, but the home favourites lost a mammoth battle 6-7[1] 7-6[5] 6-10 to Sanders and Stosur.
Both sides earned a break apiece in set one before Australia won seven of eight points in the tiebreaker, and it was a near-identical story in a second set where double faults were the theme.
This time, it was GB's turn to dominate the tiebreaker, winning the final three points to lead to a first-to-10 third-set tiebreaker, which Australia soon established a 6-3 lead in.
Barnett and Nicholls briefly responded with three successive points, but Stosur and Sanders responded in kind to seal their place in the final and end GB's magical run.
Ben Knapton
