Brazil hosts Germany in Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers; In Davis Cup, Portugal faces Finland and Brazil goes to Sweden

This Sunday saw the draw for the qualifying round of the Billie Jean King Cup, which will feature the Brazilian team of Beatriz Haddad Maia and company. The "canarinha" team confirmed their qualification for the tournament's access phase with a clear 4-0 victory in the series of matches played against South Korea.

The draw then revealed that Brazil will play Germany on April 12 and 13, 2024, with the advantage of the matches being played in front of the Brazilian fans. The duel between the two teams will be a replay of the series they played in April 2023, when the Germans won 3-1;

Germany has three players in the top 100 of the WTA rankings, with Tatjana Maria (55th), Tamara Korpatsch (80th) and Laura Siegemund (86th in singles, 5th in doubles). Brazil has World No. 11 in singles and No. 24 in doubles, Bia Haddad Maia, and the two Brazilians closest to the WTA Elite Trophy winner in the singles rankings are Laura Pigossi (138th) and Carolina Alves (303rd). Still, the highlights are Luisa Stefani, who even surpasses Haddad Maia in doubles, as she is ranked No. 18 in the WTA rankings, and Ingrid Martins, who is 47th.

Also on Sunday, the Davis Cup qualifying draw took place, with Portugal and Brazil not being seeded, so a difficult mission for the two Lusophone teams could be expected. Portugal will play the surprise package of the 2023 Davis Cup, Finland, a team that overcame the 2022 champions, Canada, and only fell to Australia in the semi-finals.

As our colleagues at Raquetc point out, Portugal has faced Finland on more than one occasion, with a visit to Helsinki in 1968 going the way of the Nordics. In 2015, it was the other way around, with Portugal coming out on top in Viana do Castelo. This is the fifth time that Portugal has fought its way into the Davis Cup finals, the most recent being in 2023, when they fell to Czechia;

Despite the Finnish campaign in the edition of the tournament that comes to an end today, a balanced duel is expected between the two teams who are scheduled to meet at the beginning of February. Portugal's highest-ranked player in the ATP rankings is Nuno Borges, world number 79. Finland's top-ranked player is Emil Ruusuvuori, world number 69;

Brazil, meanwhile, will also be playing away from home and not far from the Portuguese. The Brazilian team will play Sweden for access to the Davis Cup, also at the beginning of February. There's not much separating the two teams, with Brazil having a player in the top 100 of the ATP rankings (Thiago Seyboth Wild, World No. 80) and the Brazilians coming from a resounding victory against Denmark in September to reach this stage, in which Thiago Monteiro, currently World No. 117, beat Holger Rune, currently World No. 8.