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Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
Leylah Fernandez, who rose to fame with fellow teenager finalist Emma Raducanu at the 2021 U.S. Open, sent her home country Canada into the Billie Jean King Cup final for the first time with two victories on Saturday, setting up a showdown with Italy.
Team Canada celebrate after advancing to the Billie Jean King Cup final in Seville, Spain, November 11, 2023. /CFP
Canada downed 11-time winners the Czech Republic 2-1. 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova opened a lead for the Czech team with a 6-2, 6-1 win over 18-year-old Marina Stakusic, who faced a Top 10 player for the first time in her career. Fernandez handed her side a lifeline by beating 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, and took the stage again pairing up with Gabriela Dabrowski to take a decisive doubles win from seven-time Grand Slam-winning duo of Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 7-6(3).
Vondrousova had won her previous 11 singles matches at the event in straight sets, including one over Fernandez in 2019, while Fernandez, who is currently ranked 35th in the world, clinched her first victory over a Top 10 player since her campaign at the U.S. Open in 2021.
Finals debutante Canada had only made it once to the semifinal round in 1988, as they face four-time winner Italy, who earlier edged out Slovenia, who reached the semifinal round for the first time, after leading 2-0 in the singles matches to reach the final for the first time since a decade ago. Martina Trevisan beat Kaja Juvan 7-6(6), 6-3, and Jasmine Paolini Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
The Italian team has had an impressive run at the event with four titles in less than a decade, winning the finals in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013.