Billie Jean King Cup: Late doubles win guides US to victory over Poland

Coco Gauff and Caty McNally beat the Polish pair of Magda Linette and Alicja Rosolska 6-1, 6-2 to give the United States a 2-1 win at the Billie Jean King Cup.

The group winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, with the final on Sunday. | Photo Credit: AP

Coco Gauff and Caty McNally beat the Polish pair of Magda Linette and Alicja Rosolska 6-1, 6-2 to give the United States a 2-1 win at the Billie Jean King Cup team event on Wednesday.

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Earlier Linette beat Madison Keys 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in singles to force the deciding doubles after Danielle Collins gave the Americans a 1-0 lead in the opening singles against Magdalena French with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2) win.

The tournament was formerly known as the Fed Cup and is the premiere team event in women’s tennis.

The Americans had rested their top player, Gauff, for the singles after she played at the WTA Finals in Forth Worth, Texas last week.

Collins’ match began about two later than scheduled after some long matches earlier in the day, and the decisive doubles match finished after 12:30 a.m. Thursday.

Spain, Switzerland and Slovakia all earned victories earlier.

Paula Badosa gave Spain a 2-0 lead against Kazakhstan by beating Elena Rybakina 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in her debut at the event.

Switzerland swept Italy 3-0 with Jil Teichmann and Belinda Bencic both winning their singles matches before teaming up to take the doubles match as well.

Viktoria Kuzmova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova had singles wins for Slovakia, which beat Belgium 2-1.

There are 12 teams in the competition and they are split into four groups of three. Each match consists of two singles and a doubles.

The group winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, with the final on Sunday.