Hailey Baptiste and Bernarda Pera earned victories Sunday to propel the United States past Slovakia 2-1 in Bratislava, Slovakia, as the U.S. took the Group C championship at 2-0.
The Americans advance to the Billie Jean King Cup finals to be held in September. They’ll be joined by Japan, who won Group A Sunday.
Fresh off a 3-0 win Saturday over Denmark, the United States saw Baptiste surge past Renata Jamrichova 6-3, 6-4. Pera then held off Rebecca Sramkova 7-6 (2), 7-5 to secure the Americans’ group victory.
Baptiste needed an hour and 28 minutes to earn the win. She had five aces and took 73.3 percent of her service points (44 of 60).
Pera beat Sramkova on aces 5-3 and earned 40 of 86 return points (46.5 percent).
In the doubles pairing, Desirae Krawczyk and Asia Muhammad retired down 3-0 in the first set, giving Mia Pohankova and Tereza Mihalikova the victory.
Japan had to resort to doubles to edge Canada 2-1 after rallying from losing their first match.
Canada’s Victoria Mboko won 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-5 over Ena Shibahara, setting the stage for Japan’s comeback. Moyuka Uchijima cruised 6-3, 6-3 past Marina Stakusic to win the second, before Shuko Aoyama and Shibahara prevailed 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 over Rebecca Marino and Kayla Cross.
The entire field for the finals is now set, with Japan and the United States joining Spain, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Great Britain as group winners. Host China and 2024 champion Italy will also participate.
–Field Level Media
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