AUSTRALIA’S bid to get back to the the Billie Jean King Cup Finals will take place at home next April after drawing Slovakia in the 2022 Qualifiers. They take place on the weekend of April 15-16, with nine seeded nations taking on the nine unseeded nations, based on their results from 2021. Of the 18 sides, 10 competed at the Finals – and the remaining eight were winners in the Playoffs. The one exception was Romania, who had qualified for the Finals, but were a late withdrawal due to COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions and thus replaced by Canada.
The top seed heading into Saturday’s draw was Australia, after the green and gold reached the semi-finals after a final in 2019. They earned a home qualifier against Slovakia, with the 2019 champions France and 2021 fellow semi-finalist USA earning second and third seeds respectively.
France will travel to Italy for its qualifying clash, while the United States will host Ukraine in what could be a blockbuster fixture if both sides are at full strength. Fourth seeds Belarus will host Belgium in an all-too-familiar tie having faced off in the group stage of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in the past week.
Of the bottom four seeds, Germany will travel to face rising nation Kazakhstan, while the potentially-elite Canadian outfit hosts Latvia. Spain and Romania – who round out the last two seeds – both travel to Netherlands and Poland respectively.
Russia triumphed in the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup final over Switzerland on the weekend, but both teams will automatically make the 2022 Finals. They will be joined by the nine winners, with the host nation awarded the final slot. If the host nation is among the 11 qualifying nations, then the highest ranked losing nation will be handed the spot. It puts Australia in the box seat to qualify given that a loss would still mean the potential to reach the Finals providing the competition was held in a nation that had already qualified.
2022 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers:
[1] Australia vs. Slovakia
Italy vs. [2] France
[3] USA vs. Ukraine
[4] Czech Republic vs. Great Britain
[5] Belarus vs. Belgium
Kazakhstan vs. [6] Germany
[7] Canada vs. Latvia
Netherlands vs. [8] Spain
Poland vs. [9] Romania
Following the Qualifiers, the winners will head to the Finals on November 8-13, with the losers to face-off in the Playoffs which take place November 11-12.
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