Leylah Fernandez steered Canada to their maiden Billie Jean King Cup title as she delivered the decisive level in a 2-0 victory over Italy in Seville.
The previous US Open runner-up maintained her beautiful type all through the week as she beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-3.
After the 21-year-old transformed match level the Canadian crew celebrated wildly on courtroom in entrance of their jubilant followers.
“I don’t know what to say,” Canada’s captain Heidi El Tabakh mentioned. “I’m so proud of this team, these girls are incredible. It’s a dream come true.”
Teenager Marina Stakusic had earlier put Canada nearby of glory because of a surprising victory over Martina Trevisan. The 18-year-old, 258th within the WTA rankings, produced a nerveless show to win 7-5 6-3 in opposition to an opponent ranked forty third.
Solely when victory was inside her grasp did Stakusic wobble, as 4 match factors went adrift when Trevisan served at 2-5, however she shrugged off that disappointment and powered by her subsequent service recreation to finish the competition with a crunching forehand winner.
“I’m so happy and honoured that I could play this week, this has been the best week of my life,” Stakusic, who didn’t even play a WTA most important draw match this 12 months, mentioned on courtroom.
It was then over to Fernandez, who duly claimed her fourth singles win of the week by outclassing Paolini.
Fernandez had produced heroics yesterday in opposition to the Czech Republic, when she beat Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova to maintain Canada within the semi-final. earlier than teaming up with Gabriela Dabrowski to doubles victory.
Canada’s crew will obtain £1.96m [$2.4m] in prize cash – a report for the ladies’s crew occasion previously referred to as the Fed Cup. They had been additionally introduced with the trophy whereas crew members obtained blue jackets like those so-loved by Billie Jean King, who was current for the ultimate.
It completes a notable double for Canada, who had been additionally Davis Cup champions for the primary time final 12 months.