Barty serves up a Fed Cup final date
AUSTRALIA will go to their first Fed Cup tennis final in 26 years in November on the shoulders of mainstay Ash Barty’s extraordinary record in the competition.
Barty and her first-time doubles partner, fellow Queenslander Sam Stosur, took Australia closer to a first Fed Cup title since 1974 with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Belarus pair Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka in a deciding doubles match at Pat Rafter Arena. The opponents in the November 9-10 final in Australia, either France or Romania, will have to end Barty’s 14-match winning streak in Fed Cup singles and doubles after a gripping 3-2 semi-final win.
The power and precision of the world No.9’s serve and forehand have swept all eight sets of Fed Cup singles she has played this year, including a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win over world No.10 Sabalenka earlier in the day to give Australia a 2-1 lead.
“I felt I’ve had an amazing run in Fed Cup lately,’’ Barty said. “I’m lucky to have an amazing team and for us to send Australia into a Fed Cup final is unreal. Sam and I had to refocus on a few things in the third set and we were able to build pressure.’’
Tennis Australia will decide the venue for the final, with Tennis Queensland pressing for Rafter Arena, which would be a break with custom that the same venue should not host two consecutive ties.
But it should be recognised that the Queensland public created a landmark event for the Australian Fed Cup team on the weekend, with a total attendance of 9554 the biggest for any tie in Australia in the women’s teams competition.
Belarus had sent the tie into a deciding doubles rubber when their former world No.1 Azarenka overwhelmed Stosur 6-1, 6-1 to tie the semifinal up at 2-all.
Australian captain Alicia Molik was rewarded for her trust in Stosur, who owned a 7-0 Fed Cup doubles record and finished the doubles match in superb form.