Collins, Pegula, Townsend lead USA in King Cup final

By Tennis Now | @Tennis_Now | Monday, September 16, 2024
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty for ITF

US Open Finalist Jessica Pegula and Miami Open Champion Danielle Collins will spearhead the United States’ efforts to reclaim the Billie Jean King Cup.

Captain Lindsay Davenport Collins, Pegula, US Open mixed doubles finalist selected Taylor Townsend, Caroline Dolehide AND Peyton Stearns for the U.S. National Team, which will take place November 13-20 at the Arena Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in Malaga, Spain.

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Pegula, ranked No. 3 in the world, and 10th-ranked Collins, playing her final professional season, give the United States two top-10 titles. Coco Gauff, US Open 2023 Champion and US Open Semi-Finalist Emma Navarrowho played for the US team at the Paris Olympics were not included in the squad for the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

The Billie Jean King Cup is the Women’s Tennis World Cup, and the final – a knockout tournament between 12 teams – will determine this year’s champion.

The United States will play Slovakia in the first round on November 14, with the winner of that match advancing to the quarterfinals to face Australia.

Each match will be played in a best-of-three format with two singles matches and one doubles match. Full course, schedule and ticket information is available at ticketsjeankingcup.com.

This year, both the USA Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup teams will compete against each other, with both finals scheduled to take place in Malaga at the same venue in consecutive weeks. The Davis Cup 8 final will be played at the Carpena Arena from November 19-24.

The United States leads the all-time Billie Jean King Cup with 18 titles and hopes to add to that tally this year by fielding a team with two top-10 singles players and two top-15 doubles players.

Pegula, 30, is currently the highest-ranked American woman at No. 3 after her run to the U.S. Open singles final. She is 5-1 in singles and 1-1 in doubles at the Billie Jean King Cup and has secured a qualifying victory for the U.S. in each of the last three years.

Collins, 30, is ranked No. 10 in singles and is 39-15 with two WTA titles in 2024 after announcing she would retire at the end of the year. She is 7-1 in Billie Jean King Cup singles, including a 2-0 record in last year’s finals, and has competed in the finals in each of the last three years.

Dolehide, 26, is ranked No. 45 in singles and No. 12 in doubles. She won her second WTA 1000 doubles title in Toronto this summer and won the doubles with Townsend in Team USA’s qualifying win over Belgium in April.

Townsend, 28, is a career-best doubles player, currently ranked No. 8 in doubles and No. 47 in singles. She has won three tour doubles titles this year, including her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon, and reached the mixed doubles final at the U.S. Open as a wildcard with the retiring Donald Young. She is 4-1 all-time in the Billie Jean King Cup doubles competition.

Stearns, 22, is ranked No. 48 in singles. She was a Billie Jean King Cup finalist last year and won her first WTA singles title in May. She helped lead the University of Texas to back-to-back NCAA team championships in 2021-22 and won the 2022 NCAA women’s singles title as a sophomore before turning professional.