Billie Jean King Cup: Australia into semifinals, Canada wins

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Australia became the first nation to reach the semifinals of the Billie Jean King Cup by beating Belgium for a second group win in the top team event in women's tennis.

Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic again won singles matches for the Australians to earn an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Sanders beat Alison van Uytvanck 6-2, 6-2 while Tomljanovic's victory was sealed when her opponent, Elise Mertens, had to retire when trailing 4-6, 6-4, 3-0.

Australia had already beaten Slovakia on Tuesday in Group B.

In Group A, Canada set up a winner-take-all match against Switzerland on Friday after beating Italy 3-0, helped by wins from Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez in singles.

Andreescu, playing a team event for Canada for the first time since 2019, defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto 7-6 (3), 6-3. Fernandez defeated Martina Trevisan 6-0, 6-0.

Gabriela Dabrowski joined Fernandez to win the doubles for Canada 6-1, 6-1 against Jasmine Paolini and Lucia Bronzetti.

Switzerland beat Italy 3-0 in the group opener on Wednesday.

In late matches, Spain will play Britain in Group C and the Czech Republic will take on Poland in Group D.

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