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Canada is as soon as once more within the hunt for the 2 greatest titles in worldwide crew tennis as the ladies’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals get underway this week in Malaga, Spain, adopted by the boys’s Davis Cup Finals subsequent week on the identical indoor venue.
We’ll have extra on the Davis Cup earlier than subsequent Wednesday’s quarterfinal between Canada and Germany. For immediately, let’s deal with the Billie Jean King Cup.
For those that want a refresher, this occasion launched in 1963 because the Federation Cup, which was shortened to the Fed Cup earlier than one other rebranding in 2020 to honour King, the previous ladies’s tennis star and longtime equal-rights champion. Last 12 months, Canada shocked everybody by winning the Cup for the primary time.
Like the Davis Cup, which has been round since 1900, the Billie Jean King Cup payments itself as “the World Cup of tennis.” A set of playoff matchups late final 12 months decided the 16 groups for the qualifying spherical in April, and the winners of these eight matchups superior to this week’s 12-team Finals. They’re joined by defending champion Canada, runner-up Italy, host Spain and the wild card Czech Republic, who all bought to skip qualifying.
Canada, Italy and the Czechs additionally acquired first-round byes within the Finals, together with Australia. Canada’s quarterfinal matchup will happen Sunday in opposition to the winner of Friday’s contest between Germany and Great Britain. Italy will face Japan or Romania whereas Australia meets Slovakia or the United States and the Czechs get Spain or Poland. Those two groups had been scheduled to open the Finals immediately, however the matchup was postponed because of a severe weather alert within the space.
WATCH | Stakusic helps Canada win 2023 BJK Cup:
Just days shy of her nineteenth birthday, Marina Stakusic was known as up on the final minute to play on Canada’s crew on the Billie Jean King Cup in Seville, Spain, and he or she’s already a legend within the making.
Each contest (or “tie” as they’re known as) is a better of three, consisting of a pair of singles matches adopted by a doubles decider if mandatory. A non-playing captain selects who to ship out for every match. Anyone can play doubles, even when they performed in one of many singles matches earlier within the tie.
Canada is defending the Cup with principally the identical roster that received it final 12 months in Seville, Spain. Captain Heidi El Tabakh returns together with singles ace Leylah Fernandez, doubles star Gabriela Dabrowski, stunning 19-year-old Marina Stakusic and veteran Rebecca Marino. Bianca Andreescu was initially named to the crew instead of Genie Bouchard, however Andreescu pulled out last week for well being causes, so El Tabakh will roll with simply these different 4.
Fernandez, at present ranked thirty first on the planet, was sensational eventually 12 months’s Finals, the place groups wanted to win their three-team group to advance to the ultimate 4. After profitable each of her group singles matches, she shocked Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova to power a deciding doubles contest within the semifinals in opposition to the Czech Republic. Fernandez and Dabrowski took down seven-time Grand Slam doubles champs Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova to ship Canada to the ultimate, the place Fernandez clinched the Cup along with her straight-sets singles win over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, who would go on to succeed in two Grand Slam finals this 12 months.
Stakusic, in the meantime, was a revelation. Despite having by no means performed in the principle draw of a WTA Tour occasion (or being legally allowed to drink in her house province of Ontario) the 258th-ranked BJK Cup rookie received three of her 4 singles matches on the Finals. That included an upset of No. 43 Martina Trevisan to guide off Canada’s Cup-winning sweep of Italy within the closing. Stakusic is now ranked 127th (and might legally take pleasure in a beer) after qualifying for Wimbledon this 12 months and winning a lower-tier tournament in Mexico final month.
Dabrowski is wrapping up a incredible 12 months. At the Paris Olympics, she teamed with Felix Auger-Aliassime to win a bronze medal in blended doubles for Canada. On the professional tour, Dabrowski and her common doubles teammate Erin Routliffe of New Zealand reached the ultimate at Wimbledon and two different tournaments earlier than profitable the profitable WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia final weekend. Dabrowski and Routliffe cut up a cool $1.125 million US there, and Dabrowski is now ranked No. 3 on the planet in doubles.
Marino scored a trophy final weekend too, profitable the lower-level Dow Tennis Classic in Michigan. She’s ranked 103rd on the planet in singles.
How to observe the BJK Cup Finals:
You can stream each match within the match stay on CBC Gem, CBCSports.ca and the CBC Sports app. A pair of first-round matchups are on faucet for Thursday: Japan vs. Romania at 4 a.m. ET and Slovakia vs. the United States at 11 a.m. ET. Germany and Great Britain wrap up the primary spherical Friday at 11 a.m. ET, following the rescheduled Spain-Poland contest at 4 a.m. ET.
The quarterfinals start Saturday, and Canada is slated to face the Germany-Great Britain winner on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET. The semifinals are on Monday and Tuesday, and the ultimate is subsequent Wednesday.
Here’s our full streaming schedule and here’s the full bracket and results. You can read more about the Canadian team here.
