The United States and Belarus went the distance for the 2017 Fed Cup title.
Having worked its way back into the World Group for 2017, the U.S. Fed Cup’s hopes would be led by a new captain, former Top-10 singles star Kathy Rinaldi, who was familiar with many of the young Americans in her prior role with the United States Tennis Association. Building a squad with Coco Vandeweghe as one of the mainstays, the Americans won their first two rubbers to advance to the final.
There, they’d face the surprise of the tournament, Belarus. With Victoria Azarenka working her way back to the tour after becoming a mother, the squad was led by two young players, Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Aryna Sabalenka, and had the advantage of playing their first two rounds at home. Belarus would also play host to the final, the first in the nation’s history.
In the prior round, Sasnovich and Vandeweghe opened up play for their nations against Switzerland and the Czech Republic, respectively, and had gotten their teams off to a winning start. Something had to give when the two met in the first rubber in the final, and on this occasion it was Vandeweghe who won in straight sets to stake the U.S. to a 1-0 lead. In the second rubber, the new US Open champion Sloane Stephens took on Sabalenka, which looked like a mismatch on paper. However, buoyed by the home crowd, the young Belarussian leveled the score after day one by winning her match in three sets.
On the second day, Vandeweghe embraced her opening role once again as she defeated Sabalenka in the first of the reverse singles matches. With the team needing only one more point for the win, Stephens faced Sasnovich and took the first set rather routinely. Sasnovich came roaring back to win the second, but found herself near the end as Stephens served for the match in the decider. The Belarussian broke, then as the third set got to 6-6, she would go on to win the next two games to level the tie.
The two-woman team of Sasnovich and Sabalenka then faced Vandeweghe and Shelby Rogers in the doubles match to decide it all. The Americans won the opening set 6-3, but then found themselves in a tiebreaker in the second. Scoring multiple mini-breaks, Vandeweghe and Rogers went up 6-3 and clinched the championship when Sasnovich missed a return, giving the U.S. its first title in 17 years.
1
Vandeweghe became the first player this decade to be part of three winning points in a final.
3
This was the third straight year the final went to a live fifth rubber, the second such streak of the 2000s.
2014
The last time a reigning Grand Slam singles champion played in a Fed Cup final before Stephens was 2014, when Petra Kvitova helped the Czech team secure the title.
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