Australia find themselves in a championship tie at the Billie Jean King Cup final for the 19th time in their history, with Storm Sanders winning in singles and doubles over home team Great Britain in a semi-final tie that could not have been much tighter.
On Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland, Sanders defeated Heather Watson 6-4, 7-6(3) in the first singles match, but Britain’s Harriet Dart leveled the situation by destroying Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6(3 ), 6-2.
It reached the deciding doubles match, where Sanders came back and paired with Samantha Stosur for a whisker-like 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5). [10-6] victory over the British Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls.
Australia will now face Switzerland in Sunday’s championship tie. The Swiss will play for the title for the second consecutive year after overcoming the Czech Republic to sweep both singles. Viktorija Golubic started the day with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Karolina Muchova. Belinda Bencic secured victory for Switzerland by coming back from 5-2 down in the second set and saving a set point to defeat Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 7-6(6).
Switzerland are bidding to win their first Billie Jean King Cup title, having finished as runners-up in 2021 and 1998.
The Australians, who were runners-up in the Billie Jean King Cup as recently as 2019, are looking for their first championship since 1974, when they won their seventh title in an 11-year period.
In the opening match of the day, Australia’s Sanders continued his impressive singles performance all week. The 28-year-old is ranked inside the Top 10 in doubles but No. 237 in singles, and yet Sanders has gone 3-0 in singles play in Glasgow so far.
Forays to the net and excellent passes gave Sanders the first set on the left. In the second set, Sanders took complete control in the tiebreaker, taking four of the first five points with winners.
Sanders won five match points with a 6-1 backhand, and converted his third match point with another strong backhand. Sanders ended the match having saved four of the five break points he faced.
However, Dart, ranked 98th, put Britain back in contention. World No. 33 Tomljanovic, a three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist in the past two years, had beaten Dart in their previous two meetings, but Dart cruised to victory in 1 hour 49 minutes.
Dart saw an early break and a set point slip away at 5-4 when Tomljanovic’s court coverage took her to a first-set tiebreaker. Dart, however, maintained his aggressive positions in the breaker, and a forehand crosscourt winner gave him three more set points at 6-3.
Dart forced a long error from Tomljanovic in her second set to cut the lead to one set in the 68th minute, and the Brit cruised into the second set later. Dart finished the match with 25 winners, more than double Tomljanovic’s 12.
An intense doubles match to decide the finalist saw each set go ahead before the Australians prevailed after 92 minutes of play. Each pair broke serve twice in a match that could only be settled in a tiebreaker, with the Aussies pulling away to win the final four points.
Australia saved two set points at 6-5 in the first set before dominating the tiebreaker, with Sanders’ strong returns bolstered by Stosur’s clutch serve. However, Nicholls’ volleys kept the British duo in the game, and they broke open the second-set tiebreaker after a Barnett pass winner.
In the tie breaker of the match, Barnett and Nicholls reduced the Aussies’ 6-3 lead to level the score at 6-6. But a volley winner from each of the Australians saw them lead 8-6, and a Stosur forehand winner gave them three level points at 9-6.
Australia needed just one as a late winner from Sanders completed his outstanding day with his second win, moving his side into the final.