Iga Swiatek leads Poland to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Japan, Australia and Slovakia were among the other countries that advanced to the Finals, which will be held in Seville, Spain, in November.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates her opening singles match victory against Switzerland’s Simona Waltert during the Billie Jean King Cup qualification round on Friday. | Photo Credit: AP

Number one-ranked Iga Swiatek clinched a berth for Poland in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals by defeating Switzerland’s Celine Naef 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to take an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five-match qualifying round.

Swiatek, who has claimed Grand Slam titles at the French Open and one at the U.S. Open, also won her opening singles match on an indoor hard court at Biel, Switzerland, on Friday.

Japan, Australia and Slovakia were among the countries that advanced Saturday to the Finals, which will be held in Seville, Spain, in November.

Japan went ahead 3-0 over Kazakhstan and Australia went up 3-0 over Mexico to advance to the Finals.

Slovakia moved into the Finals when 16-year-old Renata Jamrichova defeated Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-0 on an indoor hard court in Bratislava to give the hosts a 3-0 edge over visiting Slovenia.

The eight winners in qualifying will join defending champion Canada, 2023 runner-up Italy, host Spain and wild-card selection Czech Republic in the 12-country Finals field.

Heading into Saturday, 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu and Britain was tied 1-1 with France, the United States led Belgium 2-0, Ukraine led Romania 2-0, and Germany was ahead of Brazil 2-0.