Italy secured their second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup title after beating the USA 2-0 in the finals.
Elisabetta Cocciaretto overcame Emma Navarro in straight sets to give her country the lead earlier in the day before Jasmine Paolini sealed the victory with her triumph over Jessica Pegula.
The Americans were competing in their first final in seven years after coming through their tie with Great Britain.
It wasn’t to be for captain Lindsay Davenport‘s side in the end, however, who said it was a successful week for the USA overall.
Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images for Billie Jean King CupLindsay Davenport reacts to USA’s loss in the Billie Jean King Cup final
In her post-tie press conference, Davenport said: “I mean, every team is so tough here. I mean, we were match points down in our first match against Kazakhstan. If Emma doesn’t beat Putintseva, who knows what happens.
“But happy that we made a great run here. We felt like we had a great opportunity today. But, man, both of those ladies played great tennis. Congratulations to them.
We’ll just keep trying. We’ll get another chance, hopefully next year, to be back here in Shenzhen. We’ll hopefully learn from today.
“Hopefully, these players go on to play great in the rest of the year. I look forward to watching the year play out for all the Americans. It’s been a great week. Tough day, but a great week.”
Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images for Billie Jean King CupLindsay Davenport said there were a ‘couple more things’ USA could have tried
Davenport added: “I’ve always loved the experience of being around a team. In this individual sport, you don’t get many opportunities. This year we had two weeks to be able to do it in terms of this event.
“I think it’s a great atmosphere trying to just create the ladies to work together. It didn’t go our way.
“I think that everyone here who was here for Team USA was really focused on the goal. Sometimes you fall short. Sometimes the other team just plays better. Both those ladies played great today.
“Maybe there was a couple more things we could have done out there, but we all tried our best, everyone on the support staff. What can you do? It happens sometimes.”
The last time the USA won the Billie Jean King Cup was in 2017, when they emerged victorious over Belarus.