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A true team effort led by Floridians Sofia Kenin and Serena Williams saw the U.S. hold off a rally from Latvia over the weekend to advance to the Fed Cup Finals.

The U.S. made quick work of the Latvians in the Friday singles when Kenin, the highest-ranked American, easily dispatched of the Latvian No. 2 player Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-2, and Williams edged the Latvian No. 1 Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(4), 7-6(3).

But on Saturday the Latvians showed they would not go quietly, even as the U.S home crowd at the Everett, Wash., Angel of the Winds Arena rooted them on for one more tie-clinching win.

Ostapenko was the “wild card” of the Latvian team the U.S. was worried about, and in her first-ever meeting against Kenin put on the type of big-hitting performance that won her the French Open, outlasting Kenin 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. In the second Saturday singles, Sevastova refused to go away in going the distance against an emotional Williams for a 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(4) win.

The loss was Williams’ first-ever in Fed Cup singles play in 15 career matches.

“It was a really intense match,” Williams said. “I feel like it was lots of points, lots of running, lots of things, and lots of things to take out of the match and for the future, as well.”

The content tied at 2-2 then came down to the deciding doubles, where Kenin teamed with former world No. 1 doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands to handle the battle-wearied team of Ostapenko/Sevastova 6-4, 6-0.

Mattek-Sands improved to 4-0 career in deciding Fed Cup doubles matches.

“I was ready to go when I woke up this morning,” Mattek-Sands said afterward. “This is what we train for, representing the stars and stripes, the energy out there was amazing. For me, it’s fun to play out there in moments like that in front of a crowd like that with teammates like this cheering me on the bench. It’s really such a unique experience. I’m glad I got to be out there with this little beast [referring to Kenin] over here.”

U.S. captain Kathy Rinaldi said she had no lack of confidence in the Kenin/Mattek-Sands pairing that won the WTA China Open title last year.

“Sonya and Bethanie obviously have played together quite a bit and had some success recently,” she said. “Bethanie has a world of experience in doubles. You know, she’s been on my teams before. So I knew we were all in good hands.”

Budapest, Hungary, will be the next stop for the U.S. team as they have now qualified for the new-format 16-team 2020 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Finals to be played on April 14-19.

The U.S. in Budapest joins fellow qualifiers Russia, Spain, Belgium, Belarus, Germany, Switzerland and Slovakia, along with auto-qualifiers as the 2019 finalists Australia and France, the host nation Hungary and wild-card entrant nation Czech Republic. The finals will be played on indoor red clay at the Laszlo Papp Budapest Sports Arena.

The draw for the finals will take place in Budapest on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at noon ET, and will be live-streamed at FedCup.com.

Posted by USTA Florida

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