Fernandez tops Vismane as Canada sweeps Latvia to make Billie Jean King Cup finals
CBC
A big win on home soil will be an enduring memory for Canadian tennis phenom Leylah Fernandez.
The 19-year-old from Laval, Que., helped Canada secure a spot in November's Billie Jean King Cup finals with a dominant 4-0 sweep of Latvia in a qualifier in Vancouver.
Fernandez, ranked 21st in the world, came in as the top-seeded Canadian and earned a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Latvia's No. 2 seed Darja Semenistaja on Friday. She followed the performance with a 6-2, 6-1 win Saturday over Daniela Vismane, Latvia's top player in the series.
"I was just a small part of a huge team and a great team effort. So I'm very happy I was able to help them in any way I could," the young Canadian said. "Just to see everybody smile at the end of the day was one of the moments I'll remember forever."
Canada's No. 2 seed Rebecca Marino, ranked 111th in the world, battled Vismane to a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 victory on Friday.
Gabriela Dabrowski and Carol Zhao added another victory to Canada's tally on Saturday, topping Semenistaja and Vismane 6-1, 6-3 in doubles action.
Canada's showing in the qualifier proves the country deserves a prominent spot on tennis' world stage, said captain Heidi El Tabakh.
"I think it says that we belong at that level in the finals," she said. "I really do believe that we have a chance one day to win the Billie Jean King Cup."
Last year, the Canadians upset France in the round robin portion of the tournament before losing to the Russian Tennis Federation.
Latvia lost to the U.S. in qualifiers in 2021.
This year, the Latvians played without two of their top players, including world No. 11 Jelena Ostapenko, who suffered a wrist injury at the Miami Open.
Anastasija Sevastova is also out after announcing in January that she was taking a break from tennis to deal with an undisclosed ailment.
"Coming in this [qualifier], we knew it was going to be challenging," said captain Adrians Zguns. "We didn't have our best players but it was exciting for our young players to be part of this and actually compete against high-level competition."
Latvia had initially planned to play Liga Dekmeijere and Diana Marcinkevica in doubles action on Saturday but Zguns said he swapped the players out because he wanted Vismane and Semenistaja to have fun.
