By Oli Gent

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Great Britain are into the semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, where they face the United States today.

It is a third run to the last four in four years for Anne Keothavong’s team, who face their toughest test to date against an American quartet packed with talent from the top of the WTA rankings.

World No7 Jessica Pegula is the highest-ranked player in their squad, and she will take the first singles spot against Britain’s Katie Boulter on Saturday.

Emma Navarro, the world No17, will be Sonay Kartal’s opponent in the second singles rubber.

Pegula has not been out of the world’s top 10 for the past three years, and she had been in good form having reached the semi-finals of the recent US Open, but was beaten by Elena Rybakina in the USA’s victory over Kazakhstan in the last eight.

She did, however, make amends alongside Taylor Townsend in the deciding doubles rubber.

For Boulter, she has impressed upon arrival in Shenzhen, beating Moyuka Uchijima in Britain’s win over Japan in the quarter-finals.

That was Boulter’s 17th win from 23 matches representing her country, and she believes that GB have “nothing to lose” ahead of the last-four showdown.

“To be in the semi-final is another opportunity,” Boulter said. “We’ve got some world-class tennis players down the other end. They also don’t know what we’re capable of.

“I think we’re all going to have a free swing and get after them. I’m very excited for this next tie.”

Kartal, the world No82, was beaten by Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round of the US Open, but dominated Ena Shibahara earlier this week.

These two countries have not played against each other in this tournament for 33 years, with the US winning nine of the previous 10 fixtures, when the competition was known as the Fed Cup.

GB are aiming to reach a first final since 1981, and they are bidding to do so without No1 Emma Raducanu, who chose instead to play at the Korea Open. She was beaten by Barbora Krejcikova in the second round on Thursday.

TV channel: The tie will not be available to watch live on television in the UK.

Live stream: However, you can stream it live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website, as well as the Tennis Channel.

The tie will begin at 10am BST, with a best-of-three format. The two singles matches will take place first, before a deciding doubles rubber if the scores are tied.