(Reuters) -Japan secured a second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup finals appearance with their 2-1 win over 2023 champions Canada thanks to Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama’s 6-3 5-7 6-2 win over Kayla Cross and Rebecca Marino in the qualifying doubles decider on Sunday.
Shibahara and Aoyama powered through the opening set 6-3, breaking twice for a quick 3-0 lead. Cross and Marino hit back in the second, edging it 7-5 to level the match, before the Japanese pair regained control in the third.
Canada’s 18-year-old Victoria Mboko edged Japan’s Ena Shibahara 6-4 6-7(8) 7-5 in a marathon opening clash. Mboko fired eight aces to take the opening set after racing to a 2-0 lead. In the second, Shibahara fought back, saving three match points in the tiebreak before levelling the contest.
Mboko trailed early in the decider but recovered to break for 4-4, and after squandering three more match points, sealed victory with a forehand winner on her seventh.
Japanese number one Moyuka Uchijima breezed past Marina Stakusic 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 15 minutes to level 1-1 and force the doubles decider.
Uchijima, ranked 77 places higher, won 13 straight points to take the opening set in a little over 30 minutes with a delicate dropshot. After Stakusic saved two break points at the start of the second, Uchijima pounced for a 4-2 lead and sealed victory to rapturous home support.
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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