Tennis-Australia, Britain reach Billie Jean King Cup semis, Canada thump Italy

Australia became the first team to reach the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals after brushing aside Belgium on Thursday and they will face Britain in the last four in Glasgow. Storm Sanders dispatched Alison van Uytvanck 6-2 6-2 and Ajla Tomljanovic rallied from a set and a break down before Elise Mertens retired injured trailing 4-6 6-4 3-0 to earn Australia their second Group B win.


Reuters | Updated: 11-11-2022 05:34 IST | Created: 11-11-2022 05:34 IST
Tennis-Australia, Britain reach Billie Jean King Cup semis, Canada thump Italy

Australia became the first team to reach the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals after brushing aside Belgium on Thursday and they will face Britain in the last four in Glasgow.

Storm Sanders dispatched Alison van Uytvanck 6-2 6-2 and Ajla Tomljanovic rallied from a set and a break down before Elise Mertens retired injured trailing 4-6 6-4 3-0 to earn Australia their second Group B win. Sanders returned to court and teamed up with Sam Stosur to see off Ysaline Bonaventure and Kirsten Flipkens 6-4 6-3 and complete an Australian clean sweep.

Britain also booked a semi-final spot from Group C after Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls sealed a surprise 3-0 win over Spain and they face Australia on Saturday.

Barnett and Nicholls beat Spain's Aliona Bolsova and Rebeka Makarova 7-6(5) 6-2. Heather Watson defeated Nuria Parrizas Diaz 6-0 6-2 and Harriet Dart earned a surprise victory over Paula Badosa 6-3 6-4. Canada crushed Italy 3-0 after Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez claimed impressive singles victories to get their campaign off to a perfect start.

Andreescu overturned a 5-2 deficit in the first set and battled back from 2-0 down in the second to beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto 7-6(3) 6-3 and Fernandez thrashed Martina Trevisan 6-0 6-0 in 44 minutes. Fernandez carried that ruthless streak into the doubles, joining forces with Gabriela Dabrowski to beat Lucia Bronzetti and Jasmine Paolini 6-1 6-1.

Canada will take on Switzerland, who swept Italy 3-0 on Wednesday, in their final Group A tie on Friday, with the winners advancing to the semi-finals. Czech Republic won the deciding doubles against in Group D over Poland and will play the United States on Friday for a place in the last four.

Katerina Siniakova and Marketa Vondrousova outclassed Polish duo Katarzyna Kawa and Magda Linette 6-2 6-3.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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