Best moments from the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals
• 3 MINUTE READ
Another year and another incredible Billie Jean King Cup Finals, with the Lexus Great Britain team pushing all the way to the semi-finals again as Italy went on to clinch the title.
Off the back of the 2025 Finals in Shenzhen, we look back at all the best moments and things you may have missed this year.
Photo of the week
There could only be one choice for the photo of the week at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
Heading into the week, Captain Anne Keothavong announced that Francesca Jones would be joining up with the GB squad off the back of her impressive recent form on the WTA Tour.
While she’s a formidable player on the court, Jones is also an amazing teammate behind-the-scenes and always keeps the morale high amongst the squad.
Ahead of GB’s tie against USA in the semi-final – Jones helped ease the tension heading out onto court with this fun, iconic GB fit.
Moment of the week
While it was all celebrations for Italy at the end of the week, they came dangerously close to crashing out in the semi-finals.
Ukraine were just two games away from booking their place in the final. Marta Kostyuk opened up with a straight sets win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto, before Elina Svitolina stole a march on Jasmine Paolini with a 6-3, 4-2 lead.
However, the Italian had other ideas – winning the final four straight games in the second set, which turned out to be the pivotal period of the tie. The former Wimbledon and Roland Garros runner-up went on to claim her sixth Billie Jean King Cup singles win in her previous seven matches 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Paolini later returned alongside Sara Errani as the Olympic gold medalists defeated Kostyuk and Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-2, 6-2 to round off an epic comeback win.
Quote of the week
Our ambition is still very much to lift that trophy one day. To lift that trophy, you've got to beat some of the best players in the world. I do believe we have players that are capable of it. This will motivate us.
Storyline of the week
Italy’s dominance in the Billie Jean King Cup over the last three years has been nothing short of outstanding – reaching three finals in a row.
This year, the Italians came in with the added pressure of being the defending champions and they more than delivered on the big stage.
A dominant win over China and a comeback victory against Ukraine saw them back into the final where they would face arguably the strongest team in the tournament on paper – USA.
The American side boasted two top-20 singles players in Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro – both with strong experience playing deep in Grand Slams – as well as two former world No.1s in doubles, Pegula and Taylor Townsend.
Despite the Americans impressive array of talent, Italy saved their best for last. Straight sets wins for Cocciaretto and Paolini against Navarro and Pegula secured back-to-back titles and a sixth consecutive win for Italy over the US.
In case you missed it
Great Britain continue to prove their credentials as one of the leading nations in the Billie Jean King Cup – reaching the semi-finals for the third time in four years.
The Lexus GB team powered past Japan in the quarter-finals, with both Sonay Kartal and Katie Boulter producing excellent performances to come through in straight sets.
The Brits faced a tall challenged up against USA in the semi-finals, with the Americans holding a ranking advantage in every matchup – but the GB team had their chances to reach a first final since 1981.
Kartal led by a set and a break against former US Open semi-finalist Navarro and Boulter took the first set against Pegula, however, the Americans had enough to grind out hard-fought victories for their country.
The GB team are making positive strides year by year and against the USA, showed that they have the game and spirit to mix it with the top teams in the competition. Coming into the Finals they moved up to the No.2 ranked team in the world – maybe 2026 will be the breakthrough year.
Shot of the week
Kartal has been on fire for the Lexus GB Billie Jean King Cup team since she made her debut against Germany in the Qualifiers earlier this year.
Picked against one of the top players of the past two seasons in Navarro, the young Briton showed just how much progress she’s made in her game over the last 12 months, pushing the American all the way.
Best of social media
It was all celebration for the Brits in the quarter-finals against Japan, but safe to say Jodie Burrage may have jumped the gun slightly...
What’s next?
Now the players roll on to the Asian hard court swing – starting with the China Open in Beijing.
Boulter and Kartal will join up with Emma Raducanu as the British challenge in China in the first of two WTA 1000 events, before moving on to Wuhan later in October.
