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What had been the possibilities Leylah Annie Fernandez and Rebecca Marino wouldn’t be the singles gamers on this weekend’s Billie Jean King Cup match-up towards Latvia in Vancouver? Barring accidents, the reply is lower than slim to none.
First off, they’re the best ranked Canadian gamers on their group at No. 21 and No. 111 respectively. Second, it might be exhausting to think about 2021 US Open runner-up Fernandez travelling all the way in which from her dwelling base in Florida to take a seat on the bench for the Qualifiers tie on the Pacific Coliseum. Third, how might Marino not get a possibility to showcase her revitalized tennis sport in entrance of a hometown crowd?
If the Canadian gamers for the Friday/Saturday best-of-five match tie had been by no means unsure, that was removed from the state of affairs with Latvia, particularly after group captain Adrians Zguns (above) revealed on Tuesday that his greatest participant and the present world No. 11, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, wouldn’t be taking part in. The 24-year-old from Riga gained the WTA 500 occasion in Dubai in February and was a semi-finalist the next week on the WTA 1000 in Doha on the most effective run of her profession since that memorable triumph in Paris two days earlier than her 20th birthday on June 8, 5 years in the past.
A ridiculously highly effective, however extremely unpredictable participant, Ostapenko would seemingly have been the pendulum-swinger, by some means, had she made the journey to Vancouver.
Zguns mentioned she spoke to him after dropping to Shelby Rogers on the Miami Open on March 25 and has a wrist concern for the time being. Hypothesis that she may be purposely avoiding the tie was dashed Thursday when it was realized she has withdrawn from subsequent week’s WTA 500 occasion in Stuttgart, a match considered as the beginning of the European clay-court season for the WTA’s prime gamers.
(Bianca Andreescu has taken a wild card into Stuttgart and will likely be taking part in for the primary time since Indian Wells final October.)
Additionally absent in Vancouver is Latvia’s No. 2 participant Anastasija Sevastova, who has a singles report of 19-6 over eight years and 23 ties in Billie Jean King Cup competitors. The 31-year-old, at the moment ranked No. 119 after being as excessive as No. 11 in 2018, started an indefinite break from tennis after this 12 months’s Australian Open.
With Ostapenko out, the Canadian group captained by Heidi El Tabakh needed to recalibrate towards a Latvian squad that includes potential singles gamers No. 267 Daniela Vismane, 21, No. 281 Diana Marcinkevica, 29, and a 19-year-old Darja Semenistaja, ranked No. 398.
The largest query mark is the 19-year-old Semenistaja who’s making her Billie Jean King Cup debut. As a degree of reference, she gained an Worldwide Tennis Federation (ITF) $25,000 (US) occasion in Cancun, Mexico in February after getting by means of eight matches – three rounds of qualifying and 5 rounds in the principle draw. That included a first-round 6-4, 7-5 victory over Canadian BJK Cup group member Carol Zhao, now ranked No. 285.
However in Semenistaja’s subsequent three occasions (all additionally on exhausting courts) – a second in Cancun and two extra in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – she gained only one match, and her present No. 398 rating is a profession excessive.
Because of Thursday’s draw, Semenistaja will face Fernandez within the first singles on Friday starting at 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET).
Fernandez has an 8-5 report in 2022, together with defending her Monterrey, Mexico WTA 250 title early final month. She is 3-2 in singles over her BJK Cup profession, which dates again to her debut within the Czech Republic as a 16-year-old in 2019.
Her spotlight up to now has been a victory over then-world No. 5 Belinda Bencic in Biel, Switzerland, in (pre-pandemic) February, 2020.
Captain El Tabakh, in her seventh tie as captain however her first with the group at dwelling, has no considerations concerning the 19-year-old Fernandez regardless of her latest opening-round losses to Karolina Muchova in Miami and Magda Linette in Charleston. “Everyone seems to be out to get her proper now, she’s the one that everybody is wanting ahead to play,” El Tabakh mentioned. “She’s tremendous younger and has a lot room for enchancment. I’m undoubtedly not nervous about her. Nobody desires to play Leylah as a result of she’s a fighter and she or he gained’t provide you with something totally free. So I’ve full confidence in her.”
“She was all the time significantly better,” Semenistaja mentioned about her fellow 19-year-old Fernandez. “I performed the identical junior Grand Slams as she did. I might have performed her within the second spherical of the French Open just a few years in the past (2019 when Fernandez gained the title) however I didn’t (dropping within the first spherical). So it will likely be the primary time I’m truly taking part in her.”
A personable teenager, Semenistaja appears thrilled to be on her BJK Cup group for the primary time and mentioned, “I’ll simply take pleasure in it as a lot as I can.”
The second match Friday options native favorite Marino, though the 31-year-old was truly born in Toronto, towards Vismane. The 2022 season has been productive for Marino. Her report, together with ITF occasions and fundamental tour qualifying, is 21-6 and she or he certified for each the Australian and Miami Opens, gained an ITF $60,000 occasion in Arcadia, California, and was runner at a $60,000 ITF match in Irapuato, Mexico, in addition to a $25,000 ITF in Cancun, Mexico.
In 2022, Vismane is 8-8 at ITF and WTA (Bogota first-round qualifying) occasions on exhausting and clay courts in France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
Now No. 1 on her group however used to normally being both No. 3 or No. 4, Vismane gave a candid evaluation of the match-up with Canada saying, “everyone knows who’re favourites and who are usually not on this group competitors this weekend. However we’re all able to struggle and provides our greatest, and we’re super-excited for the upcoming weekend.”
Not one of the gamers in Friday or Saturday’s singles have beforehand performed one another.
Marino’s rating has improved from No. 144 to No. 111 in 2022 – placing her seven spots out of direct entry to the French Open, which begins on Sunday, Might 22.
The Canada – Latvia tie is an enormous deal for her taking part in at dwelling and she or he has about 50 tickets for family and friends for the Pacific Coliseum with its capability of 8,000 for tennis. “That is such a historic place in Vancouver itself,” she mentioned concerning the Coliseum after Thursday’s draw ceremony. “It’s the unique dwelling of the (NHL) Canucks and I do know they used to host a match right here the place Arthur Ashe performed at one level. And I’ve come and watched the Superdogs (a present that includes performing canine)…(smiles) that’s historical past in and of itself. It’s truthfully simply unimaginable to be taking part in right here, to be dwelling, particularly after all the pieces that’s occurred by means of the pandemic. It’s just like the re-start of tennis regionally and to convey our group collectively for one thing thrilling is absolutely unbelievable.”
Slated for the doubles, which might be performed after the reverse singles on Saturday, are Gabriela Dabrowski, taking part in in her 18th BJK Cup tie, and Zhao for Canada and Marcinkevica and 38-year-old Liga Dekmeijeve for Latvia.
Additionally on the Canadian group is 25-year-old Francoise Abanda.
When it comes to the taking part in circumstances, Fernandez mentioned, “all of us love the courtroom – it’s indoor tennis, it’s exhausting courtroom and it fits our video games rather well.”
The BJK Cup Qualifier will likely be out there on the Sportsnet Now streaming service and TVA Sports activities at 7 p.m. (ET) on Friday and 5 p.m. (ET) on Saturday.
The prize for the winner this weekend is a spot within the Billie Jean King Cup Finals from November 8-13 at a web site but to be decided.
Function Photograph: Pascal Ratthé
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