Boulter, Raducanu ease Great Britain into BJK Cup quarters; Canada next

Great Britain’s No.1 and No.2 delivered on Friday at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, where Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu won their singles matches to seal a 2-0 win over Germany in the first round. Great Britain advances to the quarterfinals to face defending champion Canada on Sunday.

No.58 Raducanu delivered Great Britain a 1-0 lead after defeating Jule Niemeier 6-4, 6-4 in the opening rubber. No.24 Boulter followed with a 70-minute 6-1, 6-2 win over Laura Siegemund to clinch the tie.

Billie Jean King Cup Finals Quarterfinals:

Canada vs. Great Britain

Australia vs. Slovakia

Poland vs. Czech Republic

Japan vs. Italy

Raducanu, who celebrated her 22nd birthday on Wednesday, was sidelined since the end of September with a foot injury. But a return to national duty once again brought out the best in the 2021 US Open champion. Earlier this year, Raducanu secured two key points for Great Britain to defeat France in April’s qualifiers to earn its spot in Malaga’s finals.

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“I think we really back ourselves here,” Raducanu said before the event. “We have Boults who is a massive ball-striker, it’s indoor tennis, she’s been playing really well in Asia, she won a lot of matches so I think she’s feeling really confident.

“I put a few really good weeks of training in, so I think I’m feeling quite confident in how I’m playing. For me, it will be just about adjusting to playing matches again. It’s been a few months, so I’m intrigued to see how that goes.”

Playing her first match since making the quarterfinals of the Hana Bank Korea Open in September, Raducanu held off a stern challenge from No.92 Niemeier. Shaking off her competitive rust, Raducanu fired 10 aces and generated 13 break points on Niemeier’s serve. The big-hitting German held the advantage in the winners column, striking 18 to the Briton’s 15, but was undone by nine double faults in the 1-hour and 55-minute match.

With a point in the books, Boulter swung freely and put in a clinical performance from the service line to improve to 2-0 across all levels against Siegemund. Coming off a run to the final in her last tournament of the Hologic WTA Tour season at the Prudential Hong Kong Open, Boulter won 75 percent of her first service points and was broken just once in the match. She broke Siegemund five times by dominating the German’s second serve. Siegemund managed to win just one of 14 points behind her second serve.

Great Britain will now prepare for a marquee showdown against Leylah Fernandez’s Canadian squad. Canada received a first-round bye and is bidding to become the first nation to defend the Billie Jean King Cup title since the dynastic Czech Republic, which won three straight titles from 2014-2016.

“I said it at the start, before the competition started, I really believe that we can win this,” said GB Captain Anne Keothavong. “I don’t have a problem saying that out loud, because we’ve got quality players who have shown in their own right what they’re capable of.”