Billie Jean King Cup: Daria Kasatkina and Liudmila Samsonova lead Russia to the title
The winner of the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague is Russia. Daria Kasatkina and Liudmila Samsonova made the decision against Switzerland in the individual games.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Nov 06, 2021, 08:22 pm
With a delay of 19 months, the first winner of the Billie Jean King Cup has been determined: Russia prevailed against Switzerland in the final and won the final tournament, which was held for the first time, thanks to two single victories by Daria Kasatkina and Liudmila Samsonova before the potentially all-important double .
At first Kasatkina won against Jil Teichmann with 6: 2 and 6: 4. It took the 24-year-old less than 80 minutes to give her country a 1-0 lead.
After that, Liudmila Samsonova made the decision. The world number 40. beat the reigning Olympic champion Belinda Bencic somewhat surprisingly with 3: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 4 and thus caused great jubilation among the Russians.
Russia last reached the final in 2015, when the competition was still called the Fed Cup. In September 2020, the name was changed to Billie Jean King Cup in honor of Billie Jean King.