Gavrilova and Sanders storm through singles to stun Belgium

You never really know what can happen in the Billie Jean King Cup. 

Rankings, past results, form coming in and all other metrics can be thrown out the window when a player dons their home colours and fights for their country. 

In arguably the biggest upset of the week so far, world No. 412 Daria Gavrilova and No. 131 Storm Sanders claimed two precious singles victories over a 70th-ranked Greet Minnen, and an 18th-ranked Elise Mertens, to gift 2019 runners-up Australia their first win over Belgium in the competition since 1984.

“That was the most incredible feeling, I’m still shaking,” said Sanders, who was making her Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas debut as a last-minute replacement for an ailing Ajla Tomljanovic. 

“I played really, really well. We have the best team here supporting and we’re having a really great week here in Prague. To get the win for Australia today, we had Ajla missing today, and for me to step up, I’m really, really proud of it.”

This was just the sixth top-20 encounter of Sanders’ career and she was 0-5 against top-20 opposition coming into the contest, including a straight-sets loss to Mertens at Roland Garros earlier this year. 

“It’s good that I played her at the French, I definitely felt like I knew what her ball feels like, and playing a Top-20 player – I haven’t had that many experiences playing Top-20 players so I definitely felt like I was confident coming out,” said the 27-year-old lefty. 

Two late breaks gave Mertens the opening set in just over half an hour. The duo exchanged breaks twice in the second set, which fittingly went to a tiebreak. 

In the breaker, Sanders sailed to a 5-1 lead but Mertens managed to reel her in and was back on serve at 5-6. The Australian clinched the 66-minute second set on her second opportunity and swept the decider to complete a 3-6 7-6(5) 6-0 victory and mark a memorable Billie Jean King Cup debut. 

Dasha delivers

Earlier in the day, Daria Gavrilova made an emotional return to the match court after being sidelined for the past nine months by posting a 6-4 1-6 6-4 result against Minnen to open Australia’s account in the Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas Finals. 

Playing for the first time since her Australian Open second-round exit back in February, Gavrilova showcased her signature brand of energetic tennis from the start, as she opened up a 3-1 lead. 

After struggling with a chronic Achilles tendon problem for two seasons, the former world No. 20 went under the knife nine months ago, and chose the Billie Jean King Cup to be her first event back.  

With fierce serve and forehand one-two punches, and some soft hands at the net, Minnen levelled for 3-3, and the duo traded breaks again until Gavrilova finally snuck away with the set on the 45-minute mark. 

Minnen was not discouraged and dominated the second set to force a decider against Gavrilova, who took an off-court medical timeout before the final set began, and returned to the court with heavy strapping on her left thigh. 

The pair were neck and neck throughout the third set until a costly double fault from Minnen saw the Belgian face two match points. She saved the first with her trusted forehand but sent a backhand long to give the Aussies an early lead in the tie. 

Gavrilova, who saved 10/14 break points en route to victory, was almost immediately in tears upon completion of the match as team captain Alicia Molik raced to give her a hearty hug. 

Molik had placed her faith in Gavrilova, who was obviously short on match play and whose ranking has plummeted outside the top 400, and the gamble paid off. 

“I thought the whole team, we were all training really well, so it was a really hard decision for our captain and our coaching team to make,” explained the 27-year-old Gavrilova. 

“Obviously it’s not that easy pulling off playing me first after not playing for 10 months but I think because they trusted and picked me, and I had the belief, it all paid off.”

Long road back

It’s been a long and difficult road for Gavrilova since the Australian Open last February. After falling to world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in round two, Gavrilova says she “couldn’t walk” and was desperate to find a solution for her pain. 

When doctors found out they could do a procedure to deal with one of her issues – Haglund’s bump – she jumped at the opportunity. But the recovery process has been tough, especially having to endure lockdown in Melbourne, while rehabbing her injury mostly by herself, and spending the last eight months without seeing her fiancé, ATP player, Luke Saville, whom she is marrying later this year. 

“I think I’m probably here with the most motivation out of anyone here in Prague because I haven’t played a match since February and everyone has had a long year, different travelling conditions, not knowing with Covid all the bubbles and stuff, whereas I was caged in Melbourne and was like, ‘Let’s go, I wanna play, I wanna play’. I was really excited and I probably never had this much motivation in my life,” said Gavrilova. 

Watching the tour from afar was not easy for her and she concedes there were many moments where she allowed doubts to creep into her psyche. She also still has problems with her Achilles that she will admittedly have to manage for the rest of her career. 

“I’m going to be super honest here. I was probably struggling the most during Grand Slams; when everyone was playing Grand Slams. When Ash won Wimbledon, I was so happy for her, but I was so sad, that I was like, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing here? I’m in this lockdown, rehabbing, am I ever going to play again?’” she confessed. 

A valuable point

There was redemption for Minnen and Mertens, who partnered up for the first time to salvage a point for Belgium in the doubles and keep their side’s chances alive in the competition. 

Mertens, who is the world No. 1 in doubles, combined with her compatriot to defeat Aussie pair Sanders and Ellen Perez 6-2 6-4. 

The fate of Group B will now go down to the wire and will be decided after Australia take on Belarus on Thursday. 

Belgium, the 2001 champions, defeated Belarus 2-1 on Monday.  

“Our plan is to hope that Belarus is going to win and then we might have a chance to go through,” said Minnen with a smile. “No, I wish both teams the best of luck and we will see on Thursday how it goes.”