Emma Radukanu leads Great Britain to the final of the Billie Jean King Cup

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LE PORTEL, France – Emma Raducanu cruised past France's Diane Parry 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1) on Saturday, taking the last six points to book her place in Great Britain in the final of the Billie Jean King Cup. 3-1 lead in best-of-five qualifiers.

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Poland, led by No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, were among the other nations that made it to the finals in Seville, Spain in November, along with Japan, Australia and Slovakia. The eight qualifying nations join defending champion Canada, 2023 runners-up Italy, Spain and wild-card favorite Czech Republic in the 12-team Finals field.

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On Saturday, Ukraine beat Romania 2-0, while Germany beat Brazil 2-0.

Radukanu, the 2021 US Open champion who missed most of last season due to injury, also returned from her singles match against Caroline Garcia on Friday at the indoor clay court in Le Portel, France.

It was a rematch of last year's qualifier win by France; this time the countries were tied at 1 after Friday. Katie Boulter beat Clara Burel 7-5, 6-0 to give Great Britain a 2-1 lead on Saturday, with Radukanu winning a contest that lasted nearly 3 hours. He led Parry 5-2 in the third set, had two match points on serve to win 5-3, but needed a tiebreaker to close things out.

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Radukanu underwent surgery on each wrist and one ankle in 2023. At the end of Saturday's victory, he dropped his racquet on the court, bent down to rest his hands on his knees, then stood with a smile on his face.

“Having two matches like that on top of each other – in three sets and on clay, against really tough opponents – is a testament to the work we're doing,” Radukanu said. 10th in the WTA rankings and No. 302 this week, 250 places below Garcia (No. 23) and Parry (No. 49). “And I knew it would pay off in the end. I'm very happy that he was able to perform this weekend.”

Great Britain has never won an international women's team event.

The U.S. advanced as Jessica Pegula defeated Hannah Vandewinkel 6-2, 6-0 at the Open in Orlando, Florida, to give the hosts a 3-0 lead against Belgium. The Americans have won a record 18 titles in the competition formerly known as the Fed Cup, but their last came in 2017.

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Switek defeated Switzerland's Celine Naif 6:4, 6:3 on Saturday to qualify for Poland. Svitek, a French Open and US Open Grand Slam champion, also won the indoor singles in Biel, Switzerland.

Japan beat Kazakhstan 3-0 and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka did not need to play her second match on the indoor hard court in Tokyo. Because on Saturday, Nao Hibino defeated Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva with a score of 6:4, 3:6, 7:6 (7).

Slovakia advanced to the final when 16-year-old Renata Jamrichova defeated Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-0 on indoor courts in Bratislava to give hosts Slovenia a 3-0 win.

Australia beat Mexico 3-0 on open court in Brisbane thanks to Tayla Preston's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Marcela Zacarias.

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