The underdog who tamed Serena Williams yet never saw a Grand Slam final

Serena Williams was undefeated in Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup singles until her last appearance in the competition.

Williams won her first 14 singles matches in the BJK Cup, which was then known as the Fed Cup.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion was also part of the winning USA Fed Cup team in 1999, when Williams was just 17 years old.

Williams lost two of her five doubles matches in the BJK/Fed Cup, but there was only one player who was able to beat her in singles.

Anastasija Sevastova is the only player to beat Serena Williams in the BJK Cup

Williams’ 14-match unbeaten run in BJK Cup singles included wins over players like Elina Svitolina, Sara Errani, and Camila Giorgi before the USA’s Qualifier tie against Latvia in 2020.

The final win of this streak came against former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, with Williams giving the USA a 2-0 lead in Everett, Washington.

Ostapenko kept Latvia in the tie by defeating Sofia Kenin, leaving it up to Williams to secure victory for the USA as she faced Anastasija Sevastova.

This was their second meeting; their first was at the 2018 US Open semifinals. Williams had ended Sevastova’s best Grand Slam run with a dominant 6-3, 6-0 win at that tournament, but their BJK Cup encounter took a different turn.

Despite having three set points in the opening set of the match, Williams found herself a set down and needed to force a decider. She then lost another tiebreaker in what would be her final appearance for Team USA before retiring later that year.

Serena Williams reflects on her only loss for the USA in BJK Cup

Even though Williams lost her singles match to Sevastova, the USA still came out on top against Latvia, with Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands securing the win in doubles.

The only other time Williams was part of a losing BJK Cup tie for the USA came in 2015 when they were beaten by Italy.

Williams had taken both her singles matches against Giorgi and Errani, but the tie was levelled at 2-2, leading to a deciding doubles rubber.

She played that doubles match with Alison Riske, but they lost to Errani and Flavia Pennetta, giving Italy the win over the USA.

Despite her singles wins, Williams acknowledged that her performances made her realise she wasn’t as prepared for clay court season as she had thought.

“I need to go home and really train. I’m totally not as ready for clay-court season as I thought I was,” Williams said at the time, as reported by ESPN.

“Next time I’ll be really, really ready and I’ll know what to expect. Now I’m in the mindset of, ‘You know what, I’m not on hard court.’ I’m playing like I’m on hard court and I’m not. So I have to play and be ready to hit a thousand shots if necessary.”

Williams added, “I don’t think I ever really got the hang of it. I really struggled today in the wind, on both sides. I don’t know what side was worse for me. Usually I’m able to adjust, and it’s a little disappointing that I wasn’t able to adjust sooner.”

This loss marked one of the rare early exits for the USA until this year, when they were knocked out by Belgium in their qualifier tie.

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