Brazil loses to Germany in the Billie Jean King Cup – 04/13/2024 – Sport

Brazil was eliminated from the Billie Jean King Cup this Saturday (13), after losing 3-1 to Germany in the qualifying phase of the tennis tournament, which was played at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera, in São Paulo. Beatriz Haddad Maia, Laura Pigossi, Carolina Meligeni Alves, Ingrid Martins and Luisa Stefani made up the Brazilian team.

The defeat in the main women’s tennis team championship was confirmed after Laura Siegemund, 85th in the WTA (women’s tennis association) rankings, beat Carolina Meligeni Alves by scores of 6/1, 2/6 and 6/3.

In the fourth game of the series, Meligeni came from behind and had the support of the Brazilian fans to win the second set and tie the game. She maintained a good fight in an exciting third set, but Siegemund confirmed her favoritism and guaranteed the victory for the Germans.

“Losing at home in front of this crowd is very difficult, but I wanted to thank my entire team for all their dedication during the week,” Meligeni told the audience after the end of the game. “Never in a long time have we had so many high-level players playing at the same time.”

On Friday, Siegemund had already beaten Bia Haddad Maia (number 13 in the ranking) in the first game of the dispute. In a solid game, with few unforced errors — 9 against 31 for the Brazilian —, Siegemund broke Bia’s serve on five occasions and concluded the game in two sets (6/4 and 6/2), with 1 hour and 47 minutes of play. duration.

Then, on Friday, Laura Pigossi and Tatjana Maria entered the court. The Brazilian, who, together with Luisa Stefani, won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, played with the crowd and won the first set 6-2. Maria, however, turned the match around, with two partials of 6-4 and opened 2-0 in the tournament’s knockout stage.

In the first game on Saturday, Bia Haddad returned to the court under pressure, needing to win the game against Anna-Lena Friedsam to keep the Brazilian team alive in the confrontation. She lost the first set 7-5 even after opening a four-game lead, but recovered by dominating the second and third sets (6-0 and 6-1) and securing Brazil’s only victory in the contest.

“We talk a lot about Grand Slams, but few times have I felt something as special as stepping onto the court in my country, in a big stadium”, said the best Brazilian tennis player today. “I would really like us to continue supporting women’s sport, especially in Brazil.”

The final phase of the tournament, to be played in November, in Seville, Spain, has 11 teams defined. In addition to the host country and Germany, Australia, Poland, Great Britain, United States, Japan, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Italy and Canada qualified for the final stage of the tournament. Romania and Ukraine are dueling for the last spot.

Brazil will now compete in the repechage, which could guarantee a place in next year’s qualifiers.