USA Blanks Austria to Qualify for BJK Cup Finals; Four Americans Seek Titles Sunday at Boca Raton $25K, Sunrise $15K; Pow and Lacy Win National 18s Titles in Great Britain

As expected, the USA's Billie Jean King Cup qualifying match this weekend in Delray Beach was not close, with Captain Kathy Rinaldi's team defeating Austria 4-0. After both Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula won their singles matches Friday, Pegula clinched the match with a win today, although Gauff and Caty McNally did reunite for doubles in the dead rubber.

The US has now qualified for the finals in November, along with Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Germany, Kazakhstan, and the winners of Slovenia/Romania and Canada/Belgium ties still in progress. A wild card nation will be the 12th team competing, at a site yet to be announced.

USA 4, AUSTRIA 0

Friday, April 14
Coco Gauff (USA) d. Julia Grabher (AUT), 6-1, 6-3
Jessica Pegula (USA) d. Sinja Kraus (AUT), 6-0, 7-5

Saturday, April 15
Jessica Pegula (USA) d. Julia Grabher (AUT), 6-1, 6-3
Coco Gauff (USA)/Caty McNally (USA) d. Sinja Kraus/Melanie Klaffner (AUT), 6-1, 6-4

At the women's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Boca Raton Florida, a long day finished with No. 5 seed Caroline Dolehide and unseeded Hailey Baptiste advancing to Sunday's final. Dolehide beat top seed Emma Narvarro(Virginia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and unseeded Gabriela Lee(Texas Tech) of Romania 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals. The 24-year-old from Illinois last won a singles title in 2019.  Baptiste, who also hasn't won a singles title since 2019, defeated qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva(Old Dominion) of Ukraine 6-3, 6-0 and No. 8 seed Sachia Vickery 6-4, 6-2.

Baptiste was fortunate that she kept her singles matches to straight sets, because she had a doubles semifinal to play as well, but she and Whitney Osuigwe, the No. 3 seeds, lost to No. 2 seeds Makenna Jones and Jamie Loeb(both UNC) 6-3, 5-7, 12-10. Jones and Loeb will face No. 4 seeds Sofia Sewing(Miami) and Hungary's Fanni Stollar for the title, after Sewing and Stollar took out top seeds Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame) and Anna Rogers(NC State) 3-6, 7-6(2), 11-9.

At the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit in Sunrise Florida, unseeded Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) will face No. 3 seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame/Georgia) for the title Sunday. Kwiatkowski, the 2017 NCAA singles champion, defeated fellow wild card Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC) 7-6(8), 6-1 to reach his first final since 2020. The 24-year-old McCormick, who won his first ITF World Tennis Tour men's title last September at a $15K in Cancun, beat top seed David Pichler of Austria 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3. 

The doubles title went to No. 2 seeds Blu Baker of Great Britain and Sekou Bangoura(Florida), who defeated unseeded Jared Thompkins(College of the Desert) and Leonardo Vega(St. Leo's) 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

Isabelle Lacy and Luca Pow have earned women's and men's qualifying wild cards for this year's Wimbledon by winning the LTA's National 18s titles yesterday. Lacy, the No. 4 seed, defeated unseeded Hannah Klugman 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, while the unseeded Pow beat top seed Oliver Bonding 7-6(3), 6-3. Klugman had won the National 16s title the week before, while Bonding had also finished runner-up in that tournament. 

Pow, a Wake Forest recruit, was the defending champion, but was not seeded this year; he defeated the No. 4 seed Charlie Robertson and the No. 2 seed Phoenix Weir to reach the final.

For more on the finals, see this article from the LTA website.