Jessica Pegula secured the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifying victory for the third consecutive year on Saturday, propelling the U.S. team into the Finals. The U.S. now joins a prestigious 12-nation Finals field, including defending champions Canada, runners-up Italy, host nation Spain, wildcard Czechia, and fellow Qualifiers Australia, Poland, Great Britain, Japan, Slovakia, Romania and Germany. The Finals are set to take place in November in Seville, Spain, with specific dates yet to be announced.
On Friday, Pegula and Emma Navarro gave the USA a 2-0 lead with a come-from-behind victories over Belgian players ranked No.279 and No.278, while Pegula gave her country an insurmountable 3-0 lead with a commanding 6-2 6-0 victory over Belgium’s Hanne Vandewinkel at the USTA National Campus in reverse singles a day later.
Pegula came into the match well-prepared, having analyzed Vandewinkel’s game during the Belgian’s previous encounter with Navarro on Friday. The American noted, “Being able to watch most of her match yesterday, obviously I feel like it prepped me visually being on the court, getting used to seeing her ball, how she plays, what she likes to go for.”
During the press conference, the world No.5 Pegula elaborated on her decision to withdraw from the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, citing travel logistics and her training priorities. She explained, “I was thinking I could maybe go and play, but the flight situation wasn’t great getting there. I’d have to leave tonight. I just didn’t really feel like it was worth it. Plus it kind of extends my trip into Europe a week to 10 days earlier. I just wanted to get a really good kind of week at home on the clay, back to clay, to prep for Madrid, Rome and French.”
Caroline Dolehide and Taylor Townsend sealed the deal with a 6-2 6-1 victory in the dead doubles match against Marie Benoit and Kimberley Zimmermann, completing a clean sweep for captain Lindsay Davenport in her debut tie.
