Italy breaks Slovakia's Billie Jean King Cup dream: "In a couple of days we are gonna realise it was amazing"

Italy has won the Billie Jean King Cup for the fifth time in history, and the first time since 2013, in a 2-0 victory against Slovakia, the surprise "underdog" from the tournament. As expected, it was a placid victory.

Tathiana Garbine, Italy's captain, chose Lucia Bronzetti as first rival to Viktroai Hruncakova, and the Italian won 6-2, 6-4. The second match was even shorter: Jasmine Paolini beat Rebecca Sramkova 6-2, 6-1, and Italy got the title after losing it last year to Canada.

Nobody expected Slovakia, the smallest country in the top eight, to reach this far in the tournament. The dream was to earn Slovakia's second Billie Jean King title in history (the first one was in 2002, when it was still known as Federation Cup).

However, they have much to be proud of, including dispatching three Grand Slam nations - USA, Australia and Great Britain - in an impressive run.

"For now, these emotions are a little bit sad, but I think we need to look at the whole thing, the whole picture, and what we did here", Hruncakova said, who earlier this week defeated English fan-favourite Emma Raducano, as read on the Billie Jean King Cup site.

"It's absolutely amazing, and I think we need couple hours, maybe couple days to actually realise it", "We're all gonna realise that this was something before the tournament, if someone would tell this to us, we would be thrilled."