FINALLY A BREAKTHROUGH

Australia beat Belarus to make first Fed Cup final since 1993

AUSTRALIA powered into their first Fed Cup final since 1993 yesterday with Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur clinching the deciding fifth rubber in Brisbane against Belarusian pair Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka.

Their battling 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win set up a title match against either France or Romania in November.

The tie was sent into the crucial doubles match after Victoria crushed Samantha 6-1, 6-1 in the reverse singles, following Ashleigh sweeping past Aryna 6-2, 62.

Belarus, a losing finalist in 2017, were scheduled to pit Lidziya Marozava and Vera Lapko against the Australian duo, who were playing together for the first time. But with so much on the

line team captain Tatiana Poutchek opted instead for the more accomplished pairing.

But they fell short to give seventime champions Australia a crack at their first title since last winning in 1974.

“I could not have picked two more perfect athletes to compete. Ash and Sam are superstars,” said elated Australian captain Alicia Molik.

Ashleigh called making the final “unbelievable” while Samantha said it was “super exciting.”

“We knew it was going to be a tough one and we just so happy with how we played,” added Samantha. “All the girls have worked so hard throughout the year and we really stick together.”

Watched on Pat Rafter Arena by Evonne Goolagong, who led Australia to that last Fed Cup win, the home team grabbed an early break against the Aryna serve in the opening game.

Belarus evened it up in game six and they exchanged breaks again before the Australians attacked the Victoria serve to break and go 6-5 in front, with Samantha securing the set with an overhead smash.

The second set went with serve until a powerful Aryna forehand off the Stosur serve gave Belarus the edge and Aryna served out the set to take the tie to the wire.

A net volley from Samantha gave Australia the crucial advantage off the Victoria serve in the fourth game of set three and they held their nerve for a famous victory.

Earlier, ice-cool World No 9 Ashleigh produced a commanding performance to beat Aryna, ranked one place below her.

“A really clean match today. I stuck to my game plan well and was able to execute under pressure,” said Ashleigh, who is now on a 13-match Fed Cup winning streak.

 PARIS: Simona Halep’s dream of adding a maiden Fed Cup title to her Roland Garros breakthrough triumph was on a knife-edge on Saturday as Romania and France ended the opening day of their semi-final locked at 1-1.

World No 2 Simona outclassed Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-1 in the northern French city of Rouen where 1,000 Romanian fans drowned out the larger home support.

French number one Caroline Garcia, the world number 21, then made a point of cupping her ear to the Romanian fans after easing to a 6-3, 6-3 win over 30thranked Mihaela Buzarnescu as the opening day ended all square.