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The United States will square off against Austria in the qualifying round of the Billie Jean King Cup 2023. The tie will take place from April 14 to 15 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center in Delray Beach.
The US and Austria are among the 18 teams that will be competing for nine spots in the finals, which will take place later this year.
The Americans reached the finals of last year's tournament by beating Ukraine 3-2 in the qualifiers. They were drawn alongside the Czech Republic and Poland in the finals, beating the latter 2-1. However, Team USA lost 2-1 in the decisive tie against the Czechs and were eliminated from the Billie Jean King Cup.
The United States have arguably the strongest contingent for the qualifiers on paper, as they are the only nation with multiple top 10 players in their team. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula are both in the squad along with Danielle Collins, Caty McNally and Sofia Kenin.
Gauff and Pegula have both produced some brilliant tennis over the last 12 months across both singles and doubles. The pair recently won the women's doubles crown at the Miami Open.
Collins, meanwhile, hasn't been particularly impressive this season, with only nine wins out of 19 singles matches. However, she is more than capable of beating her lower-ranked Austrian counterparts in the Billie Jean King Cup.
Kenin is gradually improving and has produced some promising performances so far this season. Lastly, McNally is a pretty decent doubles player who is ranked 23rd in the world.
Team USA's opponents Austria booked their place in the qualifying round of the Billie Jean King Cup 2023 by beating Latvia 3-2 in last year's play-offs in Schwechat. The Austrians do not have a particularly strong squad, with their highest-ranked singles player being World No. 78 Julia Grabher.
Other players on the team include former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Tamira Paszek, Sinja Krauss, Barbara Haas and Melanie Klaffner.
The United States will enter the tie as the heavy favorite to win and given the kind of players they have, it will take a miracle for Austria to defeat them.
Where to Watch Billie Jean King Cup 2023 qualifiers
United States - Tennis Channel.
Canada - Sportsnet & TVA.
Great Britain - Tennis Channel & BBC.
Spain - RTVE.
Germany - Tennis Channel.
France - beIN Sports.
Brazil - ESPN.
Italy - SuperTennis.
Austria - Tennis Channel & OETV.
Belgium - Telenet.
Poland - Polsat.
Kazakhstan - Qazsport.
Czech Republic - Ceska Televize.
Romania - Digisport.
Slovenia - Sport TV.
Ukraine - Poverkhnost.
Mexico - TVC Deportes.
Slovakia - JOJ.
