Malaga, Spain –
Italian Olympic gold medalists Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini beat Katarzyna Kawa and Iga Swiatek to secure a hard-fought, thrilling 2-1 victory over Poland on Monday and send Italy into the Billie Jean King Cup final for the second consecutive year.
Lucia Bronzetti put the Italians ahead with a 6-4 7-6(3) singles win over Magda Linette but an imperious Swiatek almost worked her magic to lead Poland to what would be a historic win by beating Paolini 3-6 6-4 6-4 in singles and coming inches close to a comeback victory in a breath-taking doubles that went into the early hours of Tuesday.
Paolini, who has never beaten world number two Swiatek in their three previous attempts, including a 6-2 6-1 defeat to the Polish juggernaut in the French Open final in June, started well and won the first set.