Jessica Pegula on Saturday sealed victory for the US over Austria, as the record 18-time champions secured their place in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
World No. 3 Pegula made quick work of Julia Grabher, winning 6-1, 6-3, to give the heavily favored Americans an unassailable 3-0 lead over Austria in their tie in Delray Beach, Florida.
“I really wanted to clinch today,” Pegula said. “It’s so much more exciting when you get to guarantee your team through.”
Photo: AP
It was a second singles victory in 24 hours for Pegula after she followed up Coco Gauff’s opening win over Grabher on Friday by defeating Sinja Kraus in straight sets.
Canada defeated Belgium 3-2 with Leylah Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski winning the deciding doubles game with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kirsten Flipkens and Greet Minnen.
In Saturday’s singles games, Minnen beat Katherine Sebov 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and Fernandez fought back for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Ysaline Bonaventure.
The Czech Republic saw off Ukraine 3-1, with Marketa Vondrousova earning the winning point against Katarina Zavatska 6-3, 6-4, after former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova lost 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to 38th-ranked Marta Kostyuk.
World No. 5 Caroline Garcia sent France through with a 6-1, 6-7 (10/12), 6-1 win over Britain’s Harriet Dart in Coventry.
Britain, which reached the semi-finals last year, were missing Emma Raducanu, leaving 138th-ranked Dart as their top singles player.
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina beat Poland’s Magda Linette to wrap up victory for Kazakhstan.
Rybakina won 6-4, 6-2 in the third rubber in Astana having also won Friday against Weronika Falkowska when teammate Yulia Putintseva defeated Linette.
“I’m delighted that Kazakhstan will be able to fly our flag on this big stage once again,” Rybakina said after the tie against a Polish side missing injured world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
Nuria Parrizas Diaz secured Spain’s win over Mexico on clay in Marbella, breezing past 196th-ranked Marcela Zacarias 6-3, 6-0.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
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Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
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