Quebec’s Leylah Fernandez and Rebecca Marino lost their respective matches and Canada, reigning champion of the Billie-Jean-King Cup, lost 2-0 to the British in the quarter-finals of the competition on Sunday.
The British will face Slovakia in the final four. The European nation eliminated Australia with a 2-0 victory.
In difficulty serving, Fernandez (31st) suffered five consecutive breaks, three in the first set and two in the second. Katie Boulter (24th) took the opportunity to win 6-2 and 6-4.
Fernandez placed just 53 percent of his first serves in play and won just 20 percent of rallies with his second. She also committed five double faults.
Despite his troubles, Fernandez won three games in a row while his opponent led 5-1 in the second set, but was unable to come back to even serve. Serving for the match, Boulter converted his fourth match point to propel his team into the semi-final.
Moments earlier, the Canadian was unable to take advantage of three break points in the fourth game, allowing Boulter to make it 4-0.
In the first match, Marino (103rd) let seven break points slip away in the second set, losing 6-0 and 7-5 against Emma Raducanu (58th).
Raducanu took advantage of his only break point in the second set to make it 6-5 and served to end the match.
After a difficult first set, Marino was much tougher in the second set, hitting five aces and winning 77% of rallies with his first service ball. With chances to make it 3-1 and 5-3, however, she was unable to land the decisive strikes in return.
“When you face an opponent like Rebecca, who has an excellent serve, you put even more emphasis on your own serve,” Raducanu explained on court after the match. I knew I had to fight, because a break at my expense could have meant the set was over. »
The first round was Raducanu’s affair in 28 minutes. She was dominant on serve, losing only two of 14 points when she had the balls in hand, including one by committing a double fault.
“The two rounds were radically different. [Marino] started hitting all the balls [en deuxième manche] and she started to have a much better first ball, which made things difficult. »
