:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/7DN5TIKWNRBOVFJGOKZSISZ524.jpg "Billie Jean King Cup: Colombia have defined the list of players for Group I Americas")
After the participation of the male delegation of Colombia team in the Davis Cup where they were eliminated by United Kingdom 3-1 in the series, it’s the turn of her female counterpart in the Billie Jean King Cup. After confirming in the early days of 2023 that Cúcuta would host the Group I Americas games, the Colombian Tennis Federation (FCT) confirmed Tuesday, March 14 the five rackets chosen by the captain of the Colombian team, Fabiola Zuluagafor this series which will develop between April 11 and 15 at the Tennis Golf Club Recreational Corporation in the capital of Norte Santander.
Those selected were camila osorio (number 100 in the WTA singles ranking), Emiliana’s Announcement(position 290) and Maria Fernanda Herazo (place 396), while in doubles they will participate Yuliana Lizarazo (position 124 of the WTA double ranking) and Maria Paulina Perez (ext. 142).
It will be Osorio’s first participation with the national team since 2020. On this occasion, also playing in the series for Group I Americas, he achieved a victory in three games played. Currently, the cucuteña has a balance of 12 wins in 19 games playedwhich makes her one of the six most successful Colombians in history in this tournament, in which she hopes to find a more favorable rhythm of competition that will allow her to overcome the bad start to the year that has made her out of the top 100 racquets in the world
These presentations will also be the return of Emiliana Arango to the Billie Jean King Cup since 2020. She currently accumulates in this tournament a balance of 7 wins in 8 games played since his debut in 2016. Of those wins, five were in singles, while the other two were in doubles. The last tournament the Antioquienne participated in was ITF USA 09A, where she was eliminated in the first round by American Megan McCray, WTA number 804 with partial scores of 6-4 and 6-2.
The third singles racket, María Fernanda Herazo of Barranquilla, is the most experienced in the Billie Jean King Cup among the five chosen by Zuluaga. He played the tournament for the first time in 2014 and since then he has been part of the Colombian teams. To date, his record is 9 wins in 12 games played. Of his wins, three have come in the 2021 series.
Finally, the great Colombian hope in doubles has as protagonists Yuliana Lizarazo y Maria Paulina Perezthe couple who became WTA 250 champions in Monterrey (Mexico) and who They are now among the top 150 in the world women’s ranking in this modality. Until this call, the last time the two were in attendance was in the 2021 series. While Lizarazo has a record of 10 wins in 11 games, Pérez’s is 2 wins in the same number of games. Curiously, the couple knocked out Maria Fernanda Herazo who was paired with American Sofía Sewing in the ITF Mexico 02A Round of 16 with partial scores 6-4, 6-2 in February.
Fabiola Zuluaga spoke about the expectations she has both of the team chosen for these games and of her own role as captain:
“These players have commitments over the next few weeks in the WTA and ITF, so let’s hope they arrive with lots of games and good preparation. We’re excited to play in Cúcuta, to play at home where I couldn’t never play as a tennis player, but I hope to do very well now as a captain. We hope you will join us in the dream of reaching the World Group”
Six countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru) will participate in these Americas Group I matches in the unique round-robin format, where the top two countries will earn a place in the World Group qualifiers in November. . , while the bottom two will be relegated to Group II Americas.