Great Britain's hopes of reaching the new-look Fed Cup finals are hanging by a thread after defeats for Heather Watson and Harriet Dart in Slovakia.
Watson was beaten 6-2 6-3 by world number 199 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova before Dart was edged out 6-7 (3) 6-3 7-5 in a thrilling battle with Viktoria Kuzmova.
Dart missed a golden chance to see off Kuzmova after holding three break points on her opponent's serve when 3-2 up in the second set.
But she fended off five match points to claw back a 5-2 deficit in the deciding set before finally being forced to admit defeat.
Dart's reversal means Britain must now win both reverse singles matches and the doubles rubber on Saturday if they are to book their place in the finals in Budapest in April.
Great Britain returned to the World Group for the first time since 1996 last year, and are one of eight seeded teams in the qualifiers.
However, their hopes were hit when British number one Johanna Konta announced she would not take part in the competition this year.
