WTA
Seville (Spain)
Four-time champion Italy booked a spot in the semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals with two straight-sets victories by Martina Trevisan and Jasmine Paolini on Thursday.
In the Italians’ tie against two-time champion Germany, World No.43 Trevisan took down Eva Lys 7-6(8), 6-1, and World No.30 Paolini dismissed Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-3, 6-2. The singles wins gave Italy an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the tie.
By prevailing in Thursday’s tie, Italy finished round-robin play 2-0 and won Group D. Italy had already grabbed a 2-1 victory over three-time champion France on Wednesday.
Italy advances into the final four of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals for the first time since 2014. Italy’s most recent title came a decade ago in 2013.
Meanwhile, last year’s runner-up Australia notched a narrow 2-1 win over Kazakhstan in Group B.
Australia, who fell to Slovenia in the opening tie on Tuesday, has won seven Billie Jean King Cup championships. Their most recent title came nearly 50 years ago in 1974.
Australia and Kazakhstan split Thursday’s singles matches. Australia’s Storm Hunter beat Anna Danilina 7-6(2), 6-4, and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva bested Kimberly Birrell 6-0, 7-5.
Those results sent the tie to the decisive doubles rubber, where new WTA Doubles World No.1 Hunter paired with Ellen Perez to face Danilina and Putintseva. Hunter and Perez, who both competed at the WTA Finals in doubles, dominated the first set 6-1.
However, the Kazakhs rebounded with a 6-4 second set, setting up a match-tiebreak. The Australians saw an early 4-1 lead in the breaker pushed to 5-4, but they won five of the next six points to complete the 6-1, 4-6, [10-5] victory.
The Group B winner will not be determined until after Friday’s tie, where Kazakhstan takes on Slovenia.