By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday November 3 2021
Danielle Collins defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo to put Team USA into the semis in Prague.
Photo Source: Billie Jean King Cup
Team USA bounced back from a disappointing debut at the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup Finals and surged into the semifinals on the strength of clutch singles victories by Sloane Stephens and Danielle Collins on Wednesday in Prague. The Americans set a semifinal clash with Russia, who also went through after nudging out defending champions France earlier in the day.
Stephens kicked things off for Team USA, defeating Nuria Parrizas Diaz, 6-4, 6-4, before Collins clinched the tie with a commanding 6-1, 6-0 victory over Sara Sorribes Tormo in just 59 minutes.
"On paper it was probably as good as it could get for me today," said Collins. "You don't have many of these days throughout the year so when you have them you are happy about it - for me I was just really on a roll, I think it's hard to put into words when you have a performance like that but I certainly had my tactics and really executed them as well as I could."
The American also added that watching Stephens take care of business in the tie’s first rubber really encouraged her to do well.
"I think Sloane got off to a great start today so that really fired me up and helped me carry some of that momentum going forward."
The Russian’s finished off an emotional victory over France, 2-1, but it was Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s three-set victory over Alize Cornet that clinched the semifinal berth for Team Russia. France, the defending champions, could have gone through if they had swept Russia, but Pavlyuchenkova made sure it didn’t happen.
“In the end I found this amazing energy and I was in that sort of zone, and vibe – I think that’s the beauty of our sport,” Pavlyuchenkova said after the 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 triumph. “You don’t get a chance to actually witness that in every match, unfortunately. Thanks to Alize, she pushed and pulled a lot of it out of me. Thanks to her as well – I think it was an amazing, incredible fighting spirit match.”