BRISBANE: Australia surged into the Billie Jean King Cup finals on Saturday with a 4-0 victory over Mexico, handing Grand Slam champion Samantha Stosur a winning start to her reign as captain.

The seven-time champions took a commanding 2-0 lead into day two at Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena, allowing Stosur to rest Arina Rodionova and hand a debut to 18-year-old Taylah Preston.

She seized the opportunity with both hands, sweeping past the experienced Marcela Zacarias, 12 years her senior, 6-1, 6-1 to put the tie beyond Mexico’s reach.

Daria Saville and Ellen Perez rubbed salt in the wounds by beating Mexican duo Jessica Hinojosa Gomez and Maria Fernanda Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in the dead rubber doubles.

Zacarias was bidding to bank her 22nd Billie Jean King Cup match win and claim sole ownership of the record by a Mexican player.

But she was no match for the emerging teenager, who made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2022 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships as a qualifier before an injury derailed her progress.

An aggressive Preston powered through the first set in 37 minutes and kept the momentum going with a break for 2-1 in the second set.

Zacarias rolled her ankle midway through the first set and there was no way back as she struggled with the injury, in tears after being beaten.

JAPAN REACH FINALS FOR FIRST TIME

Also on Saturday, Naomi Osaka was not required to play after team-mate Nao Hibino sent Japan to their first Billie Jean King Cup finals in a 3-1 qualifying win over Kazakhstan in Tokyo.

Former world number one and four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka was appearing at the competition for the first time since 2020 and won her opening singles game on Friday.

But she did not need to play a second time after Hibino clinched Japan’s spot in November’s finals in Seville with a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7) win over world number 50 Yulia Putintseva.

Osaka, who returned to tennis late last year after giving birth, was appearing in Japan for the first time since playing at the Pan Pacific Open in September 2022.

She beat Putintseva 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) on Friday, hitting 15 aces and no double faults to stake Japan to a 2-0 lead.

Hibino said Osaka had brought presents for her Japan team-mates and had been an important presence in the dressing room.

But it was Hibino who took centre stage on the second day’s play, fending off four straight match points for Putintseva before coming back to win the third-set tiebreaker.

It was Hibino’s second singles victory of the tie after dispatching Anna Danilina 6-1, 6-0 in under an hour on the opening day.

Kazakhstan salvaged a consolation point from the doubles dead rubber when Danilina and Zhibek Kulambayeva beat Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 11-9.

On Friday night, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro both rallied for three-set wins, leading the US to a 2-0 lead over Belgium in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifier at Orlando.

Pegula defeated Sofia Costoulas 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 before Navarro topped Hanne Vandewinkel 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The eight winning teams advance to the event’s final rounds to be held in November at Seville, Spain. They will join four teams that are already qualified: reigning champion Canada, 2023 runner-up Italy, host Spain and wild-card nation Czech Republic.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek cruised past Switzerland’s Simona Waltert 6-3, 6-1 to help Poland establish a 2-0 lead in Biel, Switzerland.

In other action, Great Britain are level 1-1 with host France in Le Portel; Germany jumped on top of Brazil 2-0 in Sao Paulo; host Slovakia went up 2-0 on Slovenia in Bratislava; and Ukraine established a 2-0 advantage on Romania in Fernandina Beach.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2024