Paolini, Errani help Italy edge past Ukraine to secure spot in BJK Cup final

Holders Italy fought back from the brink to beat Ukraine 2-1 and return to the Billie Jean King Cup final on Friday, with Jasmine Paolini beating Elina Svitolina to level the tie before partnering Sara Errani to seal a decisive doubles win.

Victory at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena helped the Italians become the first team to reach three successive finals in the elite women’s team competition since the Czech Republic won three straight titles from 2014-16.

Paolini and Errani secured the tie by beating the Ukrainian pair of Marta Kostyuk and Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-2 6-3 to draw loud applause from the sizeable crowd of Italian fans who remained in their seats until close to midnight in southeastern China.

Former world number three Svitolina earlier squandered the chance to hand her country an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie and the opportunity to fight for their maiden trophy on Sunday after she went down 3-6 6-4 6-4 to an inspired Paolini.

The 31-year-old broke Paolini in the third game of their contest with some aggressive hitting from the baseline and took the opening set with a sizzling backhand winner to leave five-times champions Italy on the ropes.

Paolini responded by breaking early in the second set but Svitolina took control from there and was a point away from a 5-2 advantage, before losing her way again with a flurry of uncharacteristic errors to surrender the set.

Having levelled the clash, Paolini fought fiercely to hold in an eight-deuce game early in the decider and went ahead 4-2 before Svitolina clawed he way back, but the determined Italian would not be denied as she raised her level again to prevail.

The tie-levelling victory came after Ukraine’s Kostyuk took apart Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2 6-3, leaving world number eight Paolini needing a first victory over Svitolina in their third meeting to keep her team alive.

Up next for Italy is either the US, who will seek a record-extending 19th title in the competition previously called the Fed Cup, or four-times runners-up Britain, with those two teams playing in the other semi-final on Saturday.

Alcaraz headlines Team Europe in Laver Cup title defense: World number one Carlos Alcaraz returns to the court in the wake of his US Open triumph on Friday when he headlines a Team Europe side aiming to retain the Laver Cup title against Team World.

This year’s edition of the global tennis showdown will see some changes at Chase Arena, home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

France’s Yannick Noah takes over from Bjorn Borg as captain of Team Europe while American Andre Agassi is the new captain of Team World, succeeding John McEnroe.

Europe are defending the title they won last year in Berlin. They have won five of the first seven editions, although Team World triumphed the last time the competition co-created by Swiss great Roger Federer was held in North America, in Vancouver in 2023.

Europe won’t have world number two Jannik Sinner or fourth-ranked superstar Novak Djokovic.

But Noah captains a strong lineup that also features world number three Alxander Zverev of Germany, Denmark’s Holger Rune, Norway’s Casper Ruud, Czech Jakub Mensik and Italian Flavio Cobolli.

Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek’s Korea Open quarter-final against Barbora Krejcikova was postponed Friday as rain washed out the day’s play in Seoul.

All four singles quarter-finals were pushed back to Saturday as bad weather continued to affect the tournament, which has been hit with delays all week.

The semi-finals will take place on Saturday evening, with mostly warm and sunny weather forecast for much of the day.

Six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek opened her campaign with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea on Thursday.

Agencies