Leylah Fernandez stars as Canada defeat Czechia to set up Billie Jean King Cup final against Italy

Canada reached their first Billie Jean King Cup final with a 2-1 win against Czechia in Seville, while Italy defeated Slovenia to meet them there.

Czechia have won the tournament 11 times and they went ahead in the first tie as Barbora Krejcikova beat Marina Stakusic.

Leylah Fernandez then defeated Marketa Vondrousova to level the scores at 1-1.

Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski teamed up to defeat a doubles pairing of seven-time Grand Slam doubles winners Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in a decisive 7-5 7-6(3) victory.

World No. 10 Krejcikova won Czechia’s first match to get within touching distance of the final when she defeated Canadian teenager Stakusic in the opening singles match.

Stakusic had impressed over the course of the week, earning back-to-back victories, but when she took on 2021 Roland Garros champion Krejcikova the experienced Czech won 6-2 6-1.

Fernandez then levelled the tie as she continued her impressive form in the cup as she defeated world No. 8 Vondrousova in Sevilla 6-2 2-6 6-3.

For Fernandez it was her first win over a top-10 player since the US Open back in 2021, and set her country on their way for a famous victory.

In the day’s first tie, Italy reached the final with a 2-0 win against rivals Slovenia.

Martina Trevisan and Jasmine Paolini had to dig deep to emerge victorious in exacting circumstances to remain unbeaten for the week.

Trevisan defeated Kaja Kuvan 7-6 6-3 before Paolini sealed the win with a 6-2 4-6 6-3 success against Tamara Zidansek, returning Italy to the final of the event for the first time since 2013.

“I think it’s a dream come true, because we all dream about this final,” said Italian captain Tathiana Garbin. “I think we just realised that we are in the final maybe only now. It’s a very good dream.”

“She’s a great player, she’s a brave player,” Trevisan said of Tuvan. “The emotions today were very high and maybe this made her a little bit tight. But even with a lot of difficulties she fought on every ball.

“I’m not very happy about the tennis today, but I have to accept that we were in an important match. It was my first semi-final here in this competition, and when you are on court and you are not playing just for you but you are playing for an entire country, for all the team, for my team-mates, it’s not easy to manage the emotions.

“So at the end of the first set, I had to be happy because I won the set, but I was crying. Kaja went to the toilet, and I said to Tathiana, ‘oh, that’s better because I need the time to recover from the first set’. Too many emotions to manage. But the heart and head were there, so I’m very happy.”