Australia loses to Slovenia at Billie Jean King Cup but Storm Hunter ...

Storm Hunter has declared her pride at stepping off a plane and onto court to breathe life into Australia's ailing Billie Jean King Cup campaign.

Hunter flew into Seville from Cancun after contesting the doubles at the WTA Finals, arriving just 90 minutes before the tie started on Tuesday.

The world number one doubles player overcame both jet lag and the loss of her luggage to win a potentially crucial point for an Australian side that had already lost both singles to Slovenia.

Captain Alicia Molik's faith in the experience of Ajla Tomljanović and Daria Saville had backfired with both players losing in straight sets, but Hunter teamed up with Kim Birrell to win the doubles in a super tie-break.

It gave the Australians a priceless lifeline despite losing their opening tie 2-1, keeping alive their slim chances of reaching the semifinals.

Australia must now beat Kazakhstan, who include Wimbledon 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, on Thursday, while hoping Kazakhstan then defeats Slovenia on Friday.

"It's not about me, it's about the team, I'm so proud to come out and get a win with Kimbo (Birrell) for Australia today," Hunter said.

"It's been a busy 24 hours. Obviously as soon as I finished in Cancun, tried to get here as soon as I could, ended up landing at 8:30 this morning.

"My bags didn't arrive, so that made it a bit tricky, but I had some racquets on me and was prepared to play today.

"I had my outfit, my shoes, and mentally was ready to go if our team needed that.

"It was obviously a quick turnaround, but for me, representing my country is the greatest honour and, honestly, the most amazing thing I can ever do with my tennis career."

Hunter had been playing in Mexico along with fellow Australian Ellen Perez.

With rain delaying the closing stages in Cancun, Perez, who reached the final, was stranded in Mexico, leaving even more problems for Molik in her final tournament after a decade as Australia's captain.

She had left the decision to Hunter, who had lost her doubles semifinal alongside Elise Mertens, in Cancun, to make the decision about competing.

Hunter and Birrell saved three set points before taking the opening set against Veronika Erjavec and 17-year-old debutant Ela Nala Milić 7-5, but their young opponents came back to win the second on a tie-break.

But Storm and Birrell showed their experience to win the super tie-break 10-5.

Earlier Tomljanović, in only her sixth match of the season after missing most of 2023 following knee surgery in January, crashed to a 6-4, 6-1 loss to 22-year-old Kaja Juvan, the world No104.

Saville, also on the comeback trail, lost to world number 100 Tamara Zidanšek, a 2021 French Open semi-finalist, 6-1 6-4.

AAP