The British team suffered a tough start to the Maureen Connolly Challenge yesterday, going down 4-0 on opening day.

In the battle between the best young females on either side of the Atlantic, the Great Britain team were outplayed from the start although they came close to pulling one rubber back in the doubles ? the only match to go to three sets.

In front of around 50 spectators on the Coral Beach clay, Californian Nelly Radeva opened the United States? account with a double-bagel victory over Scot Caitlin Steel before Daisha Hill-Hurtado defeated Hannah James 7-6, 6-0.

The closest singles game saw US number one Sarah Guzick beat 6ft 1ins Maria Sharapova-lookalike Naomi Broady 7-5, 7-6 with the tall British girl unlucky not to take things to a deciding set.

Already 3-0 down, the doubles gave the British a chance to fight back but Stephanie Cornish and James couldn?t quite do enough, going down 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Hill-Hurtado and Kathryn Talbert.

?It was a tough day for us,? admitted British coach James Davidson last night.

?Everyone is pretty disappointed even though some of the scores don?t reflect how tight the games were. Heads were a little down but we have already started talking about the next set of games and what we need to do.

?We will be working hard today to get back into the match and try and set things up for a final day.?

The British side, winners last year 7-4 although with a different set of players, need to win three of the day?s four rubbers to keep the match alive for tomorrow?s final three games.