Great Britain have secured their spot in the United Cup quarter-finals after finishing top of Group F despite losing to Australia, 2-1 in their final tie of the round robin stages.

Katie Boulter knew a straight sets victory would be enough to secure GB's place in the last eight and she delivered once again as she breezed past Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-1. Billy Harris then stepped up to face Alex de Minaur where the world No.9 beat the Brit 6-2, 6-1.

Olivia Nicholls and Charles Broom then combined for the mixed doubles rubber where they narrowly lost out to Gadecki and de Minaur 6-3, 7-6(3).

Great Britain joins Italy and Poland as Sydney's group winners and will now go on to face Iga Swiatek's Poland side on Thursday 2 January.

Match one: Boulter victory fires Great Britain into quarter-finals

British No.1 Boulter kick-started her 2025 season in style as she conjured up another brilliant performance against Gadecki, winning 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and 12 minutes.

“I’m very happy to start my new year like that,” Boulter said after her win.

“I’ve been trying to avoid all the stats on all of this and we were at dinner with Laura Robson last night, and she thankfully told me that I had to win in straight sets so I’ve been feeling the pressure since last night.”

There were no signs of nerves for Boulter who dominated the Australian from the get-go – breaking her on her opening service game of the match before going on to break for a second time to seal the first set.

Boulter continued to turn up the heat in the second set – dropping just three points behind her first serve and breaking the world No.97 a further three times to put the match beyond doubt and send her nation into the final eight.

Match two: Harris beaten by de Minaur

It was over to Harris who was looking to earn his first United Cup win and the biggest of victory of his career against the world No.9 de Minaur but the Brit fell short in a 6-2, 6-1 defeat.

Playing in their first career meeting, it was always going to be a tough challenge for Harris against the in-form Australian who came out firing once again inside the Ken Rosewall Arena.

The Brit kick-started the match with confidence as he held to love on his opening service game but it didn’t take long for de Minaur to pile on the pressure on Harris. Catching sight of his first break point at 3-2, the Australian capitalised to get the breakthrough before being spurred to a run of three games to take the first set.

With the home crowd behind him and Australia’s qualification hopes still alive, the nine-time ATP titleholder kept his foot on the gas pedal as he broke Harris three times in the second set to level the tie.

Match three: Nicholls & Broom edged by Gadecki and de Minaur

With qualification secured for GB, there was nothing to lose for mixed doubles duo Nicholls and Broom heading into the final rubber, but despite leaving it all out on the court, the pair narrowly lost out against Gadecki and de Minaur 6-3, 7-6(3) in an hour and 36 minutes.

After a couple of early break exchanges, both pairs soon steadied the ship as they went toe-to-toe in the hopes of sealing the tie victory. However it was the Australian duo who seized their opportunity as they hunted down a late break before serving out the first set with a hold to love.

Although Australia's chances of joining Great Britain in the quarter-finals had slipped away, Gadecki and de Minaur were still gunning to leave the home fans with something to smile about. With the scoreboard locked at 6-6, we headed into a second set tie-break which saw the momentum shift in favour of the Australians who pulled away to a comfortable 5-2 lead.

Nicholls and Broom fought hard to work their way back into the match to force a decider but it was the Australians who remained more clinical as they wrapped up the win on their first match point.