The Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers are set to be held this week as 14 teams look to book a place at the Finals in November.Four teams have already booked a spot at the Finals – Australia, Belgium, Slovakia and Switzerland.Defending champions Russia were stripped of their place in the competition following the country’s invasion of the Ukraine, and were replaced by Australia, the highest-ranked team to exit in the semi-finals last year.Slovakia were set to play a qualifier against Australia but have now been awarded with an automatic place in the Finals. Belgium had the same fate after their qualifying opponents Belarus were thrown out of the tournament alongside Russia.Switzerland qualified for the Finals as last year’s runners-up, leaving just eight places up for grabs.With Britain in contention for one of these spots, GiveMeSport Women runs through everything you need to know about the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers.

When are the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers?

The Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers will take place on Friday and Saturday (April 15th and 16th).

Hosted in eight different countries, the matches will be held at various times across the two days.

Who is competing in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers?

A full list of the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers, including host venues, can be found here:

Italy vs France: Tennis Club Alghero, Alghero

USA vs Ukraine: Asheville Civic Center, North Carolina

Czech Republic vs Great Britain: Czech Lawn Tennis Club, Prague

Kazakhstan vs Germany: Daulet National Tennis Centre, Nur-Sultan

Canada vs Latvia: Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver

Netherlands vs Spain: Maaspoort, 's-Hertogenbosch

Poland vs Romania: Radom Sports Center, Radom

What is the format for the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers?

The fixtures are best-of-five rubbers, with four singles matches and one doubles.

Who is in the British team for the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers?

Emma Raducanu, Harriet Dart, Katie Swan and Sonay Kartal make up the British team.

At world number 12, Raducanu is the highest ranked player in the British squad. She earned an improbable victory at the US Open last year, but has struggled to build on this in 2022.

Like Kartal, Raducanu is making her debut at the Billie Jean King Cup. With the fixture against the Czech Republic set to be played on clay court, the 19-year-old will make her first professional outing on the surface.

Dart recently impressed at Indian Wells, reaching the last 16 after defeating Elina Svitolina and Kaia Kanepi. She is now ranked world 101.

Despite being outside the world top 200, Swan is the most experienced British team member in the Billie Jean King Cup. She has played in five ties and boasts an impressive 4-1 record.

Who will Emma Raducanu be playing?

The draw for Britain's clash against the Czech Republic has now been made, with Raducanu set to come up against world number 32 Markéta Vondroušová and world number 50 Tereza Martincová.

Vondroušová, runner-up at the 2019 French Open, also finished with a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Martincová has earned four singles titles on the ITF circuit, and won her first Grand Slam match at the French Open last year.

The Czech Republic team is strong, but they are missing their three highest-ranked players – world number seven Karolína Plíšková, world number 13 Barbora Krejčíková and world number 23 Petra Kvitová.

The full draw can be found here:

How to watch the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers

All fixtures will be streamed on the Billie Jean King Cup Live Centre.

Britain's matches get underway from 11am (BST) on Friday, and 10:30am (BST) on Saturday, with coverage across LTA channels and on BBC Sport digital channels.

To boost visibility further and reach as wide an audience as possible, the LTA are once again streaming coverage of the tie on TikTok.