No Pegula or Collins? No problem: Bernarda Pera and Hailey Baptiste shine on USA debut at Billie Jean King Cup

Bernarda Pera produced a Billie Jean King Cup debut to remember on Saturday in Bratislava easing past Johanne Svendsen to give the side a 2-0 lead which was unassailable in the tie.

They will now face host nation Slovakia on Sunday as they look to head towards September's Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen. Slovakia are led by Rebecca Sramkova so perhaps have the upper hand compared to Pera and Baptiste.

Pera and Baptiste were forced into their debut in the tournament with no Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins or Coco Gauff who either withdrew or are playing elsewhere in Europe next week. Emma Navarro, Peyton Stearns, McCartney Kessler and Ashlyn Krueger too aren't involved.

A country usually full of riches when they come to the nations tournament but still it was the same sort of scoreline. After Pera won 6-3, 6-1 in little over an hour.

Baptiste delivered a dominant display to ease past Rebecca Munk Mortensen in the opening singles. She raced through her opening service game with an early break following. She bookended the set with a love hold as it went towards the half hour mark.

In the second set, Munk Mortensen looked for a foot hold in the tie saving a break point on the way to holding serve in the third game. The Dane was unable to stem the tide though as Baptiste quelled any hopes of a comeback after one hour and 26 minutes on court.

"I think the key was just sticking to what I was doing," Baptiste said as per the tournament website. "She obviously started playing a lot better, and a lot more aggressive [in the second set] and making a lot more shots, so just sticking with my game, I knew that if I stayed steady I'd be okay."