U.S. squad misses out on return to BJK Cup Finals after falling to host Belgium in qualifier

The United States will not be among the nations vying for the Billie Kean King Cup come September.

The record 18-time champions were defeated by Belgium over the weekend, with Greet Minnen cinching a 3-1 victory in Ostend for captain Wim Fissette.

Making her event debut, Iva Jovic came out on the losing end in a pair of singles matches. The 18-year-old fell to Hanne Vandewinkel, 7-6 (3), 6-3, on Friday and then was unable to extend her country into a deciding singles match Sunday when Minnen sealed a 7-5, 6-3 win .

McCartney Kessler was level with Elise Mertens at 3-3 in Friday’s second matchup before a back injury abruptly forced her to retire, putting the U.S. in a 0-2 hole. Caty McNally and Nicole Melichar-Martinez later put their squad on the scoreboard Saturday.

“We tried really hard all week to find our groove and to figure out how we were gonna play, how we're gonna get three points.But Belgium played so well. They had a great crowd here,” U.S. captain Lindsay Davenport reflected afterwards.

“We just never quite got to playing our best. We got a little bit of, obviously, bad luck with McCartney. She was playing great. We felt like she had really seized momentum in that match when things started to go the other way. But we'll keep working. It's a process for sure.”

Italy, who denied the U.S. to win the 2025 title, led the other victorious teams during the qualifying stage. September’s BJK Cup Finals will once again be held in Shenzhen.

The Americans will instead be forced to compete in the play-off round come November. Canada and Poland are among the nations that failed to advance Saturday.