Sun, Apr 14, 2024 page7

• Japan, Australia surge into BJK Finals

  UNCERTAIN: Osaka said she would love to play in the Olympics, but that would depend on the outcome of an appeal after she failed to make two appearances in the BJK Cup

  • AFP, TOKYO
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  Naomi Osaka was not required to play after teammate Nao Hibino yesterday sent Japan to their first Billie Jean King Cup Finals in a 3-1 qualifying win over Kazakhstan, while Australia surged into the finals with a 4-0 victory over Mexico, handing Grand Slam champion Samantha Stosur a winning start to her reign as captain.

  Former world No. 1 Osaka was appearing at the competition for the first time since 2020 and won her opening singles game on Friday.

  However, she did not need to play a second time after Hibino clinched Japan’s spot in November’s finals in Seville with a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7) win over world No. 50 Yulia Putintseva.

  

  Japan’s Nao Hibino returns to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva during their women’s singles match of the Billie Jean Cup in Tokyo yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  “I didn’t play today, but it’s been an absolute pleasure to be a part of this team,” Osaka said in an on-court interview. “Nao, you saved us.”

  Osaka, who returned to tennis late last year after giving birth, was appearing in Japan for the first time since playing at the Pan Pacific Open in September 2022.

  She beat Putintseva 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) on Friday, hitting 15 aces and no double faults to stake Japan to a 2-0 lead.

  Hibino said that Osaka had brought presents for her Japan teammates and had been an important presence in the dressing room.

  However, it was Hibino who took center stage on the second day’s play, fending off four straight match points for Putintseva before coming back to win the third-set tiebreaker.

  “I started wondering if it was OK for me to win my match — there were a lot of fans looking forward to watching Osaka,” laughed world No. 79 Hibino. “It was mixed emotions but I really wanted to clinch the win.”

  Kazakhstan salvaged a consolation point from the doubles dead rubber when Danilina and Zhibek Kulambayeva beat Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara 7-6 (9/7), 3-6, 11-9.

  Kazakhstan were without world No. 4 Elena Rybakina, who lost in the final of the Miami Open last month.

  Meanwhile, Osaka said she “would love to play” at the Paris Games is she is granted a spot.

  The four-time Grand Slam champion might need to go through an appeals process to claim a place after failing to make a mandatory two appearances for Japan in the Billie Jean King Cup during the current Olympic cycle.

  Osaka lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the COVID-19-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, where she went on to make the third round.

  After yesterday’s victory, she told reporters that she would play in Paris “if they let me.”

  Osaka’s world ranking has risen from 831 to 193 since she began her comeback, although she has not gone beyond the quarter-finals in six tournaments.

  In Brisbane, the seven-time champions Australia took a commanding 2-0 lead, allowing Stosur to rest Arina Rodionova and hand a debut to 18-year-old Taylah Preston.

  She seized the opportunity with both hands, sweeping past the experienced Marcela Zacarias, 12 years her senior, 6-1, 6-1 to put the tie beyond Mexico’s reach.

  Daria Saville and Ellen Perez rubbed salt in the wounds by beating Mexican duo Jessica Hinojosa Gomez and Maria Fernanda Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in the dead rubber doubles.

  “I’m just trying not to cry at the moment, to be honest,” Preston said. “It’s a very, very amazing feeling and so grateful for the opportunity from Sam and the rest of the team to be able to play and close out the tie.”

  Zacarias was bidding to bank her 22nd Billie Jean King Cup match win and claim sole ownership of the record by a Mexican player.

  However, she was no match for the emerging teenager, who made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2022 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships as a qualifier before an injury derailed her progress.

  While Australia booked their place at November’s finals in Seville, Mexico must now contest the playoffs in the same month.
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