Billie Jean Cup: Argentina showed its strength in the region and advanced to the playoffs

Argentina swept the Group I Americas and qualified for the Playoffs of the Billie Jean King Cup 2023to be held in November and will distribute tickets for the Qualifiers to the 2024 Finals.

In Cúcuta, Colombia, the team led by Mercedes Paz proved to be one of the powers in that area, even without their best players (Nadia Podoroska and Lourdes Carlé were absent from this appointment for various reasons). After three victories in as many series – they beat Guatemala 3-0, Bolivia and Chile – they beat Peru 2-1 this Friday.

The challenge now will be to transfer the good performances to a higher level, with more demanding rivals, where he hasn’t been satisfied for some time.

The Biancoceleste team arrived in Colombia with a decimated squad. Podoroska, leader of the team and 104th in the standings, has chosen to prioritize her professional career. “It cost me a lot to come back after the injury and I am very close to the points to access Roland Garrosone of the goals that we have set together with my team this season,” explained Rosario, who had the support of the captain after making that decision. Meanwhile, Carlé, 162nd and second best placed Argentine, suffered an injury to the adductors left in the debut of the WTA 250 in Bogota last week.

Paz – who had left out of the call to Paola Ormechea (175th) with the idea of ​​”renewing” the team- then called Guillermina Naya (26 years old and ranked 521st in the world in doubles), who joined Julia Riera (252nd) and rookies Martina Capurro Taborda (375th) e Bertha Bonardi (561st).

With that formation, Argentina won the first three series, against Guatemala on Tuesday, Bolivia on Wednesday and Chile on Thursday. Always with the formula Capurro Taborda and Riera in singles and the Naya-Bonardi duo for the doubles final.

This Friday failed to keep the perfect score. In the first match, the Inca team added Pérez Alarcón’s victory against Martina Capurro Taborda by 7-5, 6-1. But Argentina reversed the situation with the victories of Julia Riera over Romina Ccuno 6-0 and 6-0 and again for Riera together with Guillermina Naya-Riera in the doubles against Anastasia Iamachnike-Lucciana Pérez Alarcón 6-4 and 6-4 .

“It’s a very particular classification in terms of how it went. Coming from Tucumán, which was a tough series (referring to the defeat against Brazil in 2022), arriving here and having the team disarmed and playing with a new one were many changes but I’m super proud of the level of this team” the captain assessed.

Thus, in the absence of a date, the Albiceleste team (4-0) will play against Colombia (4-0) to determine the first place in the group, even if with the guaranteed ticket at Playoffs.

That’s where the real challenge begins. It’s just that the national team hasn’t played at the top level of women’s tennis for a long time. His last participation in the world group Of the old cup fed dates back to 2009, when with Gisela Dulko, Betina Jozami, Soledad Esperón AND Greeting Orangelost in the first round against United States of America in Arizona. A few months later, they fell 5-0 in Mar del Plata against Ukraine for repechage and descended to World Group IIin which he has competed ever since.

He played for promotion in 2014, but the mighty Russian team – with Ekaterina Makarova AND Elena Vesnina as figures- beat him 4-0 in Sochi. And given that the new format made its debut in 2021, with Qualifiers and Finals – similar to that of the renewed Davis Cup-, had two chances to return to the top level. But he would never make it to the playoffs.

In that first edition, after beating the Group I competition in February 2020 with a perfect record, he had to face kazakhstan venue in April 2021 (post stop due to pandemic). With Podoroska and Carlé on the field – and Naya, Victoria Bosio AND ortenzi jasmine as substitutes on the bench, they lost 3-2 in Córdoba and could not advance.

Last year it started again in the Americas zone, which was played in April in Salinas, Ecuador. They added three wins (Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico) and one loss (Brazil) in their group and then defeated Mexico in the duel for the playoff place. But then, in November, they lost 3-1 to the Brazilian side in Tucumán, in a run that exposed some internal disagreements and bad strategic decisions.

That blow, which hurt not only for the sporting result, but also because it kept the captain in check for a few weeks, sent the team back to Group I.

The good performance of Paz and his players in the mini-tournament that is taking place in Cúcuta has brought calm to the group and lit an illusion for the future, because it has been shown that, even without their best rackets, the team it is among the best in the region. Now comes the task of building something bigger and trying to put Argentina back among the best in the world.