Defending champions Italy shocked 18-time champions U.S.A. to retain the Billie Jean King Cup title.
Elisabetta Cocciaretto set them on their way to victory when she scored the first point in the tie. Cocciaretto upstaged Emma Navarro 6-4 6-4 to put Italy within touching distance of the trophy. Jasmine Paolini, who is the heartbeat of the Italian team, registered her first win in six tries against Jessica Pegula.
If the U.S.A. team needed any motivation to end their barren run in the competition (last title was in 2017), then they had it from the stands where Billie Jean King, for whom the tournament was rebranded in her honor, was seated in excitement and anticipation.
King won a combined 10 titles in the BJK Cup (formerly known as the Fed Cup) as both a player and team captain during a four-decade span. Current captain Lindsay Davenport won it three times as a player between 1996 and 2000 but came up short in joining the exclusive club of King, Margaret Court, and Chris Evert as the only legends to win the tournament as a player and captain.
Italy beat U.S.A. to win a second Billie Jean King Cup title in three years
For many years, the U.S. entered the BJK Cup tournament as heavy favorites possessing some of the biggest names in their ranks, but delivered just one title win this century. Davenport’s first assignment when she took over the reins last year was to solve that puzzle.
They surprisingly lost to eventual runners-up Slovakia in the knockout phase of the 2024 Finals in Malaga. However, it was worth noting that most of their established stars withdrew from last year’s Finals due to scheduling complications.
The tournament heard the players’ grievances, and Davenport was among those who welcomed the new changes. Aside from truncating the number of participating teams in the Finals from 12 to 8, this year’s event was moved to mid-September to coincide with the start of the Asian swing, and most of the top-ranked women committed to play.
Even the exclusion of Coco Gauff and Madison Keys (injury) did not deter the Americans’ chances of going all the way in Shenzhen. They still retained two Top 20 singles players and the doubles No. 1 in their team. The U.S. did escape with a hard-fought win in the quarterfinal against Kazakhstan. It was the closest they came to losing in the tournament before the final. Navarro saved match points against Yulia Putintseva, and Pegula redeemed herself for losing the second singles match. She teamed up with Taylor Townsend to win in doubles.
Davenport selected the same duo in singles, and they delivered a 2-0 win over Great Britain in the semifinals. In the final, the U.S.A. had the better team on paper, but Italy had more than proven their worth in this competition, reaching three successive finals. And Italy’s doubles expertise meant that the Americans needed to achieve a clean sweep in singles to wrestle the crown. That did not happen after Cocciaretto shocked Navarro in the opening rubber.
All the pressure was on Pegula, who, before this final, owned a 5-0 record over Paolini in competitive matches and won all 10 sets they played. But the 31-year-old was uninspiring in the U.S.A.’s hour of need as Paolini overpowered her from the baseline in a straight-sets rout. Italy won its fifth BJK Cup title.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
