Billie Jean King Cup: US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez to sit finals out

Toronto: US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez will not be part of Canada’s team for the Billie Jean King Cup finals next month. Tennis Canada confirmed that Fernandez pulled out of the team’s roster for the 1-6 November matches in Prague and is being replaced by Carol Zhao. The other members of the country’s squad are Rebecca Marino, Gabriela Dabrowski and Françoise Abanda. Canada are scheduled to open the finals by facing 2019 champion France and Russia. The 2020 edition of the event was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic. Fernandez is set to play for the Orange County Breakers in World TeamTennis, which runs 13-28 November at Indian Wells, California. She was eliminated in singles and doubles from the hard-court combined ATP and WTA tournament there this week. “It’s been a long season,” she said after her loss Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open. “We’re just going to see what the body says, what the mind says, and we’ll go from there.” The 19-year-old Fernandez turned in a breakthrough performance at the US Open , making it all the way to the final before losing to another unseeded teenager, Emma Raducanu . Fernandez arrived at Flushing Meadows ranked No 73 and left at a career-best No 28 after beating defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round, followed by 2016 champion Angelique Kerber and top-five seeds Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka .