Daria Saville needed under an hour to post victory while Arina Rodionova did it the hard way at Pat Rafter Arena for her first win in the competition.
Brisbane, 12 April 2024 | Dan Imhoff
Daria Saville and Arina Rodionova have put Australia on the cusp of a return to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals after contrasting victories at Pat Rafter Arena on Friday.
Saville stepped up as a late replacement following Storm Hunter’s Achilles injury and raced past Marcela Zacarias 6-1 6-0 in just 51 minutes to give the hosts a 2-0 lead on Day One of the qualifying tie at Brisbane.
Rodionova earlier made a triumphant return to the Billie Jean King Cup fold after she survived free-swinging Mexican Giuliana Olmos 3-6 6-3 6-1 in her first outing for Australia in eight years.
“Honestly the plan was to play my brand of tennis and I did it really well,” Saville said. “I think I was pretty zoned in. It doesn’t happen that I play fast matches, so when it feels like ‘oh I’m winning easily’ then I come up with my own games – a game within the tennis match.
“I was like ‘okay if I’ve lost a point I’m like, well, I don’t want to lose two points in a row’. I felt like I was competing for every point just to not lose focus because that is my tendency a little bit.”
> READ: Saville to replace injured Hunter on Day One at Brisbane
In a battle of 30-year-olds, Saville, who recently returned to the top 100 following an extended stint on the sidelines to an ACL injury, cruised to victory to improve her singles record in the competition to 5-7.
It was a display of all-out aggression to which Zacarias had no answers and team captain Sam Stosur could not have been happier with the result heading into the final day.
“Dasha, absolutely everything was perfect today,” Stosur said.” She played great, focused the whole time, which was incredible. That’s what we’ve been able to see from Dash for many years now.
“For her to put that out on the court today was great and obviously Arina being able to fight back from a set down and you know 3-all [in the second set] it’s a very tight tussle. Juju [Olmos] was playing fantastic tennis for someone who doesn’t play singles too often.
“You wouldn’t have thought that by what she was producing so Arina just hung tight, she got another chance, was finally able to capitalise on one and then obviously she was able to run away with the third which was great.”
In the opening…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Tennis.com.au – Tennis Australia…