US Open finalist Fernandez to sit out Billie Jean King Cup

U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez will not be part of Canadas team for the Billie Jean King Cup finals next month.

Tennis Canada confirmed that Fernandez pulled out of the teams roster for the Nov. 1-6 matches in Prague and is being replaced by Carol Zhao.

The other members of the countrys squad are Rebecca Marino, Gabriela Dabrowski and Françoise Abanda.

Canada is scheduled to open the finals by facing 2019 champion France and Russia. The 2020 edition of the event was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fernandez is set to play for the Orange County Breakers in World TeamTennis, which runs Nov. 13-28 at Indian Wells, California. She was eliminated in singles and doubles from the hard-court combined ATP and WTA tournament there this week.

Its been a long season, she said after her loss Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open.

Were just going to see what the body says, what the mind says, and well go from there.

The 19-year-old Fernandez turned in a breakthrough performance at the U.S. Open, making it all the way to the final before losing to another unseeded teenager, Emma Raducanu.

Fernandez arrived at Flushing Meadows ranked No. 73 and left at a career-best No. 28 after beating defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round, followed by 2016 champion Angelique Kerber and top-five seeds Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)