By Fernando Kallas
MALAGA, Spain (Reuters) – World number four Jasmine Paolini steered Italy to a fifth Billie Jean King Cup title as she beat Rebecca Sramkova 6-2 6-1 in the second singles rubber to wrap up a 2-0 win over Slovakia on Wednesday.
A year after Italy suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Canada in the final and over a decade since their last title in 2013, the charismatic Paolini put on a tennis masterclass to beat Sramkova, celebrating wildly with her teammates and jubilant Italian fans in a sold-out arena.
Underdogs Slovakia, who had stunned Britain on their way to the final, never got going against an imperious Italy who got off the mark with Lucia Bronzetti’s dominant 6-2 6-4 win over Viktoria Hruncakova in the opening match.
“It’s unbelievable, amazing, I don’t have words to describe how I feel right now, it’s just incredible,” an emotional Paolini said on court.
“I think we played an unbelievable week and I’m so proud of how we did it in every match. I’m very happy that this year we finally were able to bring the title back to Italy.”
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Toby Davis)
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