Japan secured a spot in the Billie Jean King Cup finals without needing Naomi Osaka to play another singles match. After Japan took a 2-0 lead on the first day of singles play in Tokyo, Nao Hibino’s victory over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva secured the win for Japan on Saturday.
This victory means Japan will compete in the Cup finals in Seville, Spain in November.
In Friday’s matches, Osaka won her singles match against Putintseva with 15 aces, while later, Hibino also defeated Anna Danilina. However, Osaka did not need to play her second singles match against Danilina.
Australia also secured their spot in the Seville finals with a 3-0 win over Mexico earlier on Saturday.
Sixteen nations are participating in the qualifiers, with eight teams set to join defending champion Canada, 2023 runner-up Italy, host Spain, and the Czech Republic, who received a wild-card selection, in the 12-country Finals field.
