PARIS: France and Spain qualified for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals on Saturday, both taking unassailable 3-0 leads against Britain and Mexico respectively.
World number five Caroline Garcia gave France the winning point indoors in Coventry with a 6-1, 6-7 (10/12), 6-1 win over Britain's Harriet Dart.
On Friday, Garcia and Alize Cornet had to play almost six hours to dominate Katie Boulter 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2) and Dart 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/3) respectively.
On clay in Marbella, Nuria Parrizas Diaz, ranked 80, sealed victory for hosts Spain with a 6-3, 6-0 win over 196th-ranked Marcela Zacarías.
Parrizas Diaz also won her singles tie in straight sets on Saturday along with Sara Sorribes Tormo to ensure Spain's presence in the finals in November at a venue to be decided.
Britain, who reached the semifinals last year, were missing Emma Raducanu, leaving 117th-ranked Dart as their top singles player.
Record 18-time champions the United States, led by top-10 players Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff are 2-0 up against Austria in Delray Beach.
On Friday, Gauff beat Julia Grabher 6-1, 6-3, before number three ranked Pegula defeated Sinja Kraus 6-0, 7-5.
The best-of-five-match contest continues on Saturday with up to two matches in singles and one in doubles.
Defending champions Switzerland and 2022 runners-up Australia received direct entrance to the November 7-12 finals, which will feature four groups of three.
Kazakhstan through
Kazakhstan advanced to the Billie Jean King Cup finals for the second time after defeating Poland 3-1 in their qualifier on Saturday.
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina had helped Kazakhstan build a 2-0 lead on Friday and the world number seven had no trouble dispatching Magda Linette 6-4, 6-2 to give her side an unassailable lead in Astana.
The best-of-five qualifiers featured two singles matches on Friday and two reverse singles plus a doubles rubber on Saturday.
Rybakina's compatriot Yulia Putintseva was scheduled to play in the fourth singles rubber which was not played but she teamed up with Anna Danilina in the doubles.
Poland, without injured world number one Iga Swiatek, finally got on the board as Weronika Falkowska and Alicja Rosolska won 6-4, 6-4 in what was essentially a dead rubber.
Ukraine were 2-0 down to the Czech Republic after Friday's rubbers and Marta Kostyuk halved the deficit when she came from behind to beat former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
However, Marketa Vondrousova wrapped up the tie for the Czechs with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Katarina Zavatska as the teams opted not to play the doubles match. -- Reuters
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