DESPITE bringing a half-strength side to the Billie Jean King Cup, few would have predicted that super power tennis national the United States could not get past Slovakia in the first round of the knockout stage. However that was exactly the case with the world number fives suffering a shock 2-1 defeat to the 10th ranked nation.

The United States were without their top three stars in Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro for the tournament, but even so, the nation still had world number 11 Danielle Collins and a further four Top 100 players. However Lindsay Davenport’s squad failed to have the answers against a vastly inexperienced team that even debut a rising star of the future.

Junior Grand slam winner Renata Jamrichova got the opportunity to represent her nation in the massive clash, and though she suffered defeat to world number 69 Taylor Townsend, still showed she has plenty to give in the future.

In that match, Townsend won 7-5 6-4 in an hour and 43 minutes despite hitting less winners (10-16) and more unforced errors (29-26). However Jamrichova did struggle to win points off her second serve (44 per cent) and despite creating 10 break point opportunities, converted just one compared to Townsend’s three of five.

Despite dropping the first match and world number 43 Rebecca Sramkova going in as a heavy underdog against Collins, Slovakia never gave up the faith and it paid off. The underdog hit 20 winners to 14 and only made 16 unforced errors to Collins’ 29. The American looked underdone having initially retired from the WTA Tour but opted to return to play out another year.

In the end though, Sramkova overcame a tight second set to close out the match 6-2 6-5 in under two hours with a strong first serve success rate (60 to 47 per cent), as well as breaking six times to three throughout the contest.

“I still have no words,” Sramkova said. “I was in the zone today. She’s anyway [an] amazing player, all respect to her. I was just playing unbelievable today, so I’m happy I got the chance after a few years and I showed what I played the whole year.”

The result sent the match to a deciding third tie in Malaga with the Martin Carpena Arena crowd on the edge of their seat. The doubles battle lived up to expectations, going three sets with a 10-8 super tiebreak deciding the match. That went the way of the Slovakians with a 6-3 3-6 10-8 victory in an hour and 23 minutes to complete the unbelievable upset.

The win sees Slovakia now head to the quarter finals where it faces Australia for a spot in the semi-finals.

OTHER RESULTS

Japan booked its place in the Billie Jean King quarter finals with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Romania. It will be the first time the Asian nation has reached the last eight since 2013, and all without top star Naomi Osaka who withdrew prior to the tournament due to injury.

Instead it was Ena Shibahara who proved the lynchpin, stepping in and upsetting world number 73 Jaqueline Cristian 6-4 7-6 to level the tie after Ana Bogdan had easily defeated Nao Hibino 6-2 6-4 in the opening tie of the tournament.

Heading to a decisive doubles, Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi proved far too good for Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Monica Niculescu with a 6-1 7-5 win. Japan captain Ai Sugiyama is yet to lose any tie since taking over, with an unbeaten streak of eight and guiding her nation back to the World Group Finals.

“I feel great”, she said. “To get to the Finals was one of my goals and all the players and staff put in a great effort. When I was playing, it was tough for me to play team events. I put too much pressure. But these days the girls are dealing with the pressure and are playing really well. Even though we lost the first match, we fought so hard.”

Making it nine straight appears to be a daunting challenge, taking on reigning runners-up Italy headlined by recent WTA Finals representative Jasmine Paolini as well as Elisabetta Cocciaretto and former Top 5 player Sara Errani.

NEXT UP

The final two first round fixtures take place tonight with Spain facing Poland for the right to tackle Czech Republic, while Germany and Great Britain lock horns with a quarter finals clash against reigning champions Canada on the line.