{"id":158989,"date":"2025-09-21T14:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/158989\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T14:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:38:08","slug":"paolini-closes-out-italys-billie-jean-king-cup-title-vs-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/158989\/","title":{"rendered":"Paolini closes out Italy’s Billie Jean King Cup title vs. U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

SHENZHEN, China — Jasmine Paolini<\/a> beat Jessica Pegula<\/a> on the fourth match point as defending champion Italy won the Billie Jean King Cup with a comprehensive victory over the United States on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Italy won both singles ties in straight sets, meaning there was no need for a decisive doubles match. The No. 8-ranked Paolini beat seventh-ranked Pegula 6-4, 6-2 after No. 91 Elisabetta Cocciaretto<\/a> won 6-4, 6-4 against Emma Navarro<\/a>, breaking her serve three times at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center Arena in China.<\/p>\n

Paolini broke Pegula’s serve with a two-handed backhand down the line to take the first set. But with Paolini serving for the match at 5-1, she wavered a little. Pegula saved three match points, and then two unforced errors from Paolini allowed Pegula to break back to 5-2 down.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

A strong looping forehand gave Paolini — the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon last year — a fourth match point, and she took it, clinching victory when Pegula’s two-handed backhand clipped the net and landed wide.<\/p>\n

Paolini raised her arms in the air then walked over to hug her teammates. All the staff members joined them on the court as they danced in a circle before celebrating with blue-shirted, flag-waving Italy fans.<\/p>\n

Pegula and Navarro each came from a set down to defeat Britain and reach the final.<\/p>\n

But not this time.<\/p>\n

Italy boasted a doubles pairing of Olympic champions Paolini and Sara Errani<\/a>, who also won the French Open doubles together this year. They would have faced Pegula and top-ranked doubles player Taylor Townsend<\/a> in what might have been an exciting trophy decider.<\/p>\n

The BJK Cup was formerly known as the Fed Cup. The United States is the most successful team as an 18-time winner but has not held the title since 2017.<\/p>\n

Italy was contesting its third straight final and clinched its sixth title. The Americans’ previous final came in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SHENZHEN, China — Jasmine Paolini beat Jessica Pegula on the fourth match point as defending champion Italy won…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-158989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}