Great Britain trail Slovakia 2-0 in their Fed Cup qualifier after a battling Harriet Dart lost in three sets to Viktoria Kuzmova.
Dart saved five match points in the final set but eventually lost 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5 in two hours and 55 minutes.
Earlier, Heather Watson was beaten 6-2 6-3 by world number 199 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on clay in Bratislava.
The reverse singles and doubles rubber will be played on Saturday in the best-of-five tie at the AXA Arena.
Great Britain captain Anne Keothavong told BBC Sport that Dart gave "an inspirational performance and fought like mad".
The winner of the tie will join 11 other nations at the new Fed Cup Finals in Budapest from 14-19 April.
There was much to admire in Dart's performance but she will rue only taking two of 13 break-point opportunities and her defeat leaves Britain with it all to do on day two.
Watson must beat Kuzmova in the third rubber to keep the tie alive before Dart faces Schmiedlova.
Debutants Naiktha Bains, 22, and Emma Raducanu, 17, are scheduled to play Kuzmova and Magdalena Rybarikova in the doubles, but Keothavong is planning to bring in Dart and Watson if they win their singles matches.
"Harriet's worked incredibly hard on her fitness, she's so much stronger now than she ever used to be and Heather's been in that situation before. I don't see any problem with singles and doubles," Keothavong added.
"Heather knows what she needs to do - she's an experienced player and hopefully she can get us off to the start we need tomorrow."
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