Brilliant Paolini leads Italy to fifth Billie Jean King Cup title

MALAGA (Agencies): Jasmine Paolini put on a tennis masterclass to steer Italy to a fifth Billie Jean King Cup title as she beat Rebecca Sramkova 6-2 6-1 in the second singles rubber to wrap up a 2-0 win over Slovakia in the final on Wednesday. A year after Italy suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Canada in the decider and over a decade since their last title in 2013, the charismatic Paolini demolished Sramkova before celebrating wildly with her teammates and jubilant Italian fans, including men’s world number one Jannik Sinner. Underdogs Slovakia, who had stunned Britain on their way to the final, never got going against an imperious Italy who got off the mark with Lucia Bronzetti’s dominant 6-2 6-4 win over Viktoria Hruncakova in the opening match. “It’s unbelievable, amazing, I don’t have words to describe how I feel right now, it’s just incredible,” an emotional Paolini said on court. “I think we played an unbelievable week and I’m so proud of how we did it in every match. I’m very happy that this year we finally were able to bring the title back to Italy,” the world number four added. Paolini fell to a 6-2 6-3 defeat to Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in last year’s final in Seville.

Yet this time around the Wimbledon and Roland Garros finalist Paolini put in a commanding performance against the 43rd-ranked Sramkova, who tried to gut it out while suffering with cramp throughout the second set. “I think last year Leylah (Fernandez) played really well, she played better than me. That’s the way it is sometimes in sports,” Paolini said. “Today when I stepped on court I told myself that I was going to give 100%… If you win, you win. But if you lose you have to accept that. We are going to fight for every ball and today it went well for us.” Italy’s perfect day started with a superb performance from 25-year-old Bronzetti, who was playing only her second BJK Cup singles match, following her debut win in the semi-final against Poland . Bronzetti was firing rockets with her serve and dominated Hruncakova in two quick sets that lasted just one hour and 20 minutes. “I’m very proud to be here, to represent Italy, I’m so happy for this win,” Bronzetti said. “It was not as easy as it may have looked. We are in the final so every match is tough. I’m very happy to have earned the point for Italy.” Paolini went about her business even quicker, beating her opponent in one hour.