The US team won the decisive double match to lift the 18th Fed Cup trophy in history ending a 17-year drought. Coco Vandeweghe and Shelby Rogers beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Aryna Sabalenka 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in 1 hour and 51 minutes to give the US team the crucial 3-2 point at the Chzhovska Arena in Minsk.
Vandeweghe scored her eighth match win in the Fed Cup this season including six singles and two doubles and remains undefeated. She became the ninth player to achieve a perfect year in Fed Cup singles matches and the first since Petra Kvitova in 2011.
“It was a lot of work and dedication to the Fed Cup in each and every round. To dedicate my time and energy through my season to be able to perform the best I could for the US team”, said Vandeweghe.
Vandeweghe and Rogers won three games in a row from 3-3 and converted the second set point at 5-3. The Belarusian team was leading 5-2 but failed to convert two set points at 5-4. They served to force the match to the third set at 6-5 but the USA sealed the tie-break by 7-3, when Sasnovich netted a forehand. The US team clinched their first Fed Cup title since 2000 after three consecutive defeats in their previous three finals against France in 2003 and Italy in 2009 and 2010.
This year’s US Open semifinalist Coco Vandeweghe beat 19-year-old rising star Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to give the US team a crucial 2-1 lead over home team Belarus.
Both players held on to their serve in the first ten games of the first set. Vandeweghe got her first break in the 11th game with a great point in response and an error from Sabalenka to take a 6-5 lead. Sabalenka broke straight back at 15. Vandeweghe played a solid tie-break on serve and clinched it by 7-5. Vandeweghe got an early break to take a 2-0 lead at the start of the second set. The US player held serve at love and got her second break to race out to a 4-0 lead. Sabalenka got her first game on the scoreboard in the sixth game but Vandeweghe never looked back and closed out the match by 6-1 in 32 minutes.
Sabalenka had become the horoine in the first day when she beat Sloane Stephens in three sets 6-4. by 6-3 4-6
Aliaksandra Sasnovich came back from one set down to upset this year’s US Open champion Sloane Stephens 4-6 6-1 8-6 in two hours and and 23 minutes to tie the match at 2-2 forcing the final to the decisive doubles match.
Stephens got the break at love in the third game of the opening set and saved a break point to take a 3-1 lead. She fended off four break points at 4-3 to hold her serve with a stop-volley on the last point. Sasnovich broke serve twice to open up a 5-0 lead and served out to love to cruise to 6-1 in the second set.
In the third set Stephens broke serve at love to take a 5-2 lead but could not hold on to her serve allowing Sasnovich to reel off four consecutive games for 6-5 thanks to a break in the 10th game. Sasnovich dropped three consecutive points from 15-15 allowing Stephens to draw level to 6-6. Sasnovich got another break before serving out for the match to draw the tie to 2-2.
