Great Britain have been eliminated from the United Cup at the first hurdle owing to Australia's 2-1 win over the United States on Monday.
GB had put one foot in the quarter-finals with a 2-1 beating of host nation Australia, but they missed the chance to seal a place in the knockout rounds on Sunday, losing to defending champions USA by the same scoreline.
Colin Beecher's team were still capable of sneaking through to the knockout stages depending on Australia's result against the USA, with a place in the last eight also on offer to the best runners-up in Perth and Sydney.
However, the hosts secured a 2-1 win over the USA thanks to Alex de Minaur's singles beating of Taylor Fritz before Matthew Ebden and Storm Hunter overcame Rajeev Ram and Jessica Pegula in the winner-takes-all doubles rubber.
Pegula had kept the USA's hopes of a first-placed finish alive by beating Alja Tomljanovic in the second singles encounter, but the holders missed the chance to qualify for the quarters directly and must now wait to learn whether they will go through as one of the best runners-up.
Australia, the USA and GB all finished Group C with a 1-1 record, but the host nation finished top on account of winning 54% of their sets, compared to 50% for the USA and 47% for Great Britain.
There was also disappointment for the Brits in the first round of the Brisbane International, as Andy Murray began his 2024 with a three-set loss to Grigor Dimitrov, despite taking a 1-0 lead against the Bulgarian second seed.
