Billie Jean King Cup, Italy ahead of China: crazy comeback by Cocciaretto

The Billie Jean King Cup Finals begin with a win for Italy, which defends the title it won a year ago in Malaga. Tathiana Garbin’s girls clinched the first point against China thanks to WTA ranking number 91 Elisabetta Cocciaretto’s victory over world number 102 Yue Yuan in the first singles match played on the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena in Shenzhen.

The Marche player overcame the Chinese player in a comeback after a battle of nearly three hours of play: 4-6 7-5 7-5 was the final score in favor of the Blue player, who regained a one-break disadvantage in the second set and a double break in the third and decisive set.

After losing the first set, Cocciaretto found herself down 2-5 in the second partial. With her back to the wall, l’Azzurra reacted like a champion by stringing together a partial run of five consecutive games and restoring parity in the match.

The third set began with a double break in the third set.

The third set started even worse than the second for the Ancona native: Yuan sprinted to a 4-0 lead in an instant. However, once again, Cocciaretto was able to reverse the’outcome of the match by winning the last five games of the partial, as in the second set.

The third set was even worse for the Ancona native.

In the second singles match it will be Jasmine Paolini, world number 8, who will face Xinyu Wang, number 34 in the WTA ranking. China, in fact, is without its number one Qinwen Zheng, world number 9.