Belarus surprised a higher-rated Swiss team to reach its first-ever Fed Cup final Sunday. No. 125-ranked Aryna Sabalenka gave the Belarusians an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five match as she beat Viktorija Golubic 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. That sets up a final against either the Czech Republic or the United States in November, when Belarus should have the services of former No. 1-ranked player Victoria Azarenka. With the two-time Australian Open champion due to return to competition in July after taking time out to raise her first child, Belarus was left with the No. 96-ranked Aliaksandra Sasnovich as its team leader. Sasnovich stepped up in style, beating Golubic 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 Saturday and then Timea Bascinszky 6-2, 7-6 (2) in Sunday's first rubber. All three of the Belarusian wins this weekend have come against players ranked at least 40 places higher. The only Swiss win came Saturday, when Bacsinszky beat Sabalenka 6-4, 7-5. Switzerland had been seeking to reach its second Fed Cup final after defeat to Spain in 1998. Romania beats Britain Host Romania beat Britain in their controversial Fed Cup World Cup play-off in Constanta Sunday, with both Johanna Konta and Heather Watson failing to win their respective singles rubbers for the visitors. Simona Halep beat world No. 7 Konta 6-1, 6-3, while Irina-Camelia Begu saw off Watson with a 6-4, 7-5 victory to seal the tie for the Romanians before the doubles. World No. 5 Halep started strongly against Konta Sunday, opening up a 4-0 lead en route to winning the first set in 27 minutes. Konta was left in tears Saturday apparently because of remarks made by Romanian captain Ilie Nastase during her match with Sorana Cirstea, which resulted in play being briefly suspended. Nastase was eventually banned from the tie because of "unsportsmanlike conduct" and had his accreditation removed by the International Tennis Federation, which has launched an investigation into his conduct. Konta defended herself after Cirstea said Sunday that she had "overreacted" by crying in their match. "With all due respect to Sorana, she was not in my shoes at that end of the court being verbally threatened," Konta was quoted as saying by British media. "Any abuse is not all right."
