THE future stars of the WTA Tour will hit the courts in Antalya, Turkey next week for the 2021 Junior Billie Jean King Cup Finals. Past winners of the tournament include Poland’s Iga Swiatek and United States’ Coco Gauff, with the pair going on to have outstanding seasons at senior level since leading their nations to victory. As always, 16 teams will battle it out for international glory on the clay, and we take a look at who might lift the trophy.

Russia topped their group at the World Junior Tennis Finals (which featured countries from across the globe) and took out the title, going undefeated across six days at the tournament in Czech Republic. Mirra Andreeva is a star of the future, dismantling most players, with no one winning more than five games against her. Even against the traditionally strong Czech Republic on home soil, Andreeva blitzed top seeded Nela Jandova 6-1 6-0 and will be the one to watch here. It was the only singles loss Jandova had all tournament, with teammate Tereza Valentova another rising star, though she had a couple of losses to Ukraine and Andreeva’s Russian teammate Alina Korneeva. The Russians also finished ahead of Japan (2nd) and Egypt (fourth) in that group.

Canada has been a traditionally strong nation, with Emma Dong and Lola Bean the two players who led the North American nation through qualifying. Having already secured the win over Mexico, they will be confident coming up against their fellow American representatives in this tournament. However Japan should also be confident, with Shiho Tsujioka and Wakana Sonobe sweeping Canada without dropping a set at the World Junior Tennis Finals. Thailand and Hong Kong also competed at the World Junior Tennis Finals, with the former getting up in a tight 2-1 win over the latter. Thailand’s Kamonwan Yodpetch got up over Hong Kong’s Tsz Lam Yeung, equalising her teammate Kannchaya Chungwatana‘s loss to Ching Laam Li. The teams finished third and fourth in their group which was topped by the Czech Republic.

Over in the specialised South American qualifying, Argentina won through with an undefeated campaign. They did not drop a match on their run to the title, defeating Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay in their Group to automatically qualify for the Finals. Luciana Moyano was particularly dominant with a 16-2 set record from her eight games, whilst Lourdes Ayala finished with a 12-1 effort. Both will be particularly hard to stop on clay. In the other group, Peru finished atop the ladder to qualify, winning 10 of a possible 12 rubbers to just grab the top spot over Chile. Whilst not completely undefeated, Lucciana Perez won eight of nine and Daniela Rubio five of eight. Perez’s only loss came at the hands of Moyano in a tight three-setter the Play-offs with Ayala too good for Rubio. Meanwhile Chile’s win over fellow second placed group finisher Brazil booked their spot in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals for the first time since 2008, thanks to the work of Antonio Vergara and Martina Pavissich.

Despite Egypt’s less-than-ideal campaign at the World Junior Titles, they qualified for the Billie Jean King Cup through African qualifying, where they finished second overall to Morocco. The Egyptians easily took care of Kenya and Cote D’Ivoire in the group stages, before being swept by Morocco. Leena Osama and Layla Shoukry took a set off Moroccan pairing Aya Ela Aouni and Manal Ennaciri in the doubles, while Malak El Allami was the consistent star for the group toppers all tournament.

Of the remaining nations, Germany is always a strong Billie Jean King Cup contender, with Caroline Kuhl a Top 100 player who is only 16, with Ella Seidel another one keep an eye out for the future, one of many inside the Top 200. Luca Udvardy and Vanesa Dalma, as well as Kitti Molnar are some young guns who could represent Hungary at the event, having had some big years on the ITF Junior Tour. Romania has not played at Billie Jean King Cup Finals tournament since 2011, and the likes of Cara Maria Mester and Maria Sara Popa are among the top ranked Romanians born in 2005. The final nation is home representative Turkey who automatically qualified, but have a future star in Melisa Ercan ranked 75th in the Junior World Rankings and still only 16, whilst Leyla Nilufer is another one who could represent her country at the event.

Whilst official team representatives are yet to be named, Russia has earned favouritism, with Germany the other top nation to challenge them. Expect the Czech Republic to be the top threat if they load up on their best possible team, whilst the clay aids itself to Argentina been a threat as well. The competition begins on September 28 with the newest nation to be crowned by the end of next week.

BILLIE JEAN KING CUP TEAMS:

Argentina
Canada
Chile
Czech Republic
Egypt
Germany
Hong Kong
Hungary
Japan
Mexico
Morocco
Peru
Romania
Russia
Thailand
Turkey

Picture credit: Srdjan Stevanovic