Japanese number one Moyuka Uchijima beat Romania’s Anca Todoni to dash Romania’s hopes of reaching the Finals after Ena Shibahara had got Japan off to a flying start in their Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers Group A clash on Saturday.
Shibahara beat Miriam Bulgaru 7-5 6-2 and Uchijima overcame Todoni 3-6 7-6(3) 6-2 in two and half hours in Tokyo to set up a winner-takes-all showdown with Canada on Sunday.
Todoni earned the first break to move ahead 4-2 in the opening set and maintained her advantage to close it out 6-3.
The Romanian also led for much of the second set before Uchijima saved two match points and broke back to force a tiebreak.
Uchijima dominated that and broke Todoni twice in the third set to seal victory.
“I don’t know how I won the match. I am just happy that I was able to pull it off. Of course, the fans helped me a lot,” Uchijima said.
Shibahara had put Japan ahead to the delight of a vocal home crowd, pouncing at 6-5 to claim the first set and breaking Bulgaru twice in the second.
“I was nervous in the beginning. I think overall I played well,” Shibahara said. “It (the crowd) helps me so much, I love it when they’re loud. I really kept pressing and being aggressive.”
Australia completed a 3-0 sweep of Colombia in Brisbane, but it was not enough to reach the Finals in Shenzhen as Kazakhstan had already secured top spot in Group D.
Later on Saturday, the Czech Republic meet Spain in Group B in Ostrava, the U.S. play Denmark in Group C in Slovakia and Switzerland take on Ukraine in Group E in Poland.
