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The Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers’ results were determined across the weekend of 14-15th April. The 2022 champions Switzerland and the defending runner-up, Australia were joined by nine other countries to play the 2023 finals that will be held from 7th-12th November.
The top-seeded team of Spain advanced to the final after beating Mexico 3-1 in their tie held in Marbella. Sara Sorribes Tormo and Nuria Parrizas Diaz won their singles rubbers against Fernanda Contreras and Renata Zarazua respectively.
Parrizas Diaz won her reverse singles rubber against Marcela Zacarias. The Mexican team of Giuliana Olmos and Zarazua, however, won the doubles rubber against Aliona Bolsova and Rebeka Masarova.
Billie Jean King Cup: Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff lord over Austrian squad
Czech Republic, the second seed clinched a 3-1 win over Ukraine at the neutral venue of Antalya, Türkiye.
The doubles rubber wasn’t contested between the two teams. Ukraine’s sole win came courtesy of Marta Kostyuk against Barbora Krejcikova in the reverse singles rubber. Earlier, both Krejcikova and Marketa Vondrousova won their respective singles rubbers against Katarina Zavatska and Kostyuk respectively.
France also secured a win with the same 3-1 margin over Great Britain in their away tie. The third seeds’ sole defeat came in the doubles rubber after the British team of Alicia Bartnett and Olivia Nicholls beat Clara Burel and Kristina Mladenovic.
Canada defeated Belgium 3-2 in their tie at Vancouver. The doubles rubber needed to be played as the deciding rubber after both teams split the singles rubbers. Gabriela Dabrowski and Leylah Fernandez eventually scored a 6-1, 6-2 over the Kirsten Flipkens and Greet Minnen to push the seeds through.
At home in the US, the American team secured a 4-0 lead over the Austrians. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula put the Americans ahead 3-0 before Gauff and McNally won the doubles rubber against Melanie Klaffner and Sinja Kraus.
In Stuttgart, the seventh-seeded home powered into the finals with a 3-1 win over the Brazilians. Likewise, the eighth-seeded Kazakh team also secured a 3-1 win over Poland at home, in Astana. The only two upsets in the qualifiers were that of the sixth-seeded Slovakian team and the ninth-seeded Romanian team. Italy defeated Slovakia 3-2 in the away tie held in Bratislava. Slovenia won 3-2 against Romania at home, in Koper.