Canada’s women are Billie Jean King Cup champions for the first time, thanks to Leylah Fernandez’s straight-sets victory (6-2, 6-3) over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini on Sunday at the international team tennis tournament in Seville, Spain.
Two hours earlier, Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., opened the best-of-three tie with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Martina Trevisan.
Fernandez, who hails from Laval, Que., won all five of her matches this week. She helped Canada advance to the final, prevailing 7-5, 7-6 (3) with doubles partner Gabriela Dabrowski over Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in Saturday’s semifinals.
“I don’t know what to say,” Canada’s captain Heidi El Tabakh said. “I’m so proud of this team, these girls are incredible.
“It’s a dream come true.”
Last November, Felix Auger-Aliassime led Canada to its first Davis Cup title in the long history of the premier team event in men’s tennis.
Canada’s team will receive $2.4 million US in prize money for Sunday’s victory, a record for the women’s team event formerly known as the Fed Cup.
Stakusic, the virtually unknown BJK Cup rookie, grabbed headlines early in the tournament. She was selected by Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh over the more experienced Rebecca Marino (ranked 176th) and Eugenie Bouchard (273rd) in the team’s first match Wednesday and beat 65th-ranked Rebeka Masarova 6-3, 6-1.
Featured VideoThe 18-year-old from Mississauga, Ont. downed Italy’s Martina Trevisan in straight sets (7-5, 6-3) to give Canada a 1-0 lead in their first Billie Jean King Cup finals appearance.
A day later, Stakusic upset No. 63 Magdalena Frech of Poland 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to send Canada to the semifinals for the first time in 35 years.
She produced a nerveless display on Sunday to beat an opponent ranked 43rd.
Only when victory was within her grasp did Stakusic wobble when four match points went adrift as Trevisan served at 2-5.
But she shrugged off that disappointment and powered through her next service game, ending the contest with a crunching forehand winner.
“I’m so happy and honoured that I could play this week, this has been the best week of my life,” Stakusic, who did not even play a WTA main draw match this year, said on court.
