Leylah Fernandez won 6-2, 6-3 over Magda Linette of Poland on Thursday, advancing Canada to the semifinals at the Billie Jean King Cup.
Canada’s best performance at this tournament came in 1988, when the country made it to the semi-finals.
Fernandez is the highest ranked Canadian in the world at 35e. Linette is number 24e WTA racket.
The Laval player dominated 5-1 for breaks and 28-10 for winning shots.
Assured of the top in Group C, the maple leaf will face the winners of Group A on Saturday.
Stakusic continues to impress
Earlier Thursday, 18-year-old Ontario native Marina Stakusic beat Magdalena Frech 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Stakusic, 258e in the world, thus recorded the biggest victory of his young professional career by defeating Frech, 63e. The day before, she had played the same move to the Spaniard Rebeka Masarova, 65e worldwide.
On Thursday, Stakusic converted five of her 13 break points, compared to four in 10 opportunities for the Pole.
Stakusic also dominated her rival 51-18 in winning shots.
The Mississauga player seemed nervous at the start of the match, and it showed in her play.
Stakusic faced a first test in the third game of the match, when she offered four break points to her opponent. Frech converted the last of them to build a 2-1 lead, before securing a second break in the fifth game to widen the gap to 4-1.
She did attempt a comeback at the end of the set, after recording her first break of the match to narrow the gap to 5-3, but Frech, visibly more experienced, sealed the outcome of the set two games later.
The second set was much closer, and Stakusic never gave up — even if she was the first to give up her serve in the fifth game to make it 3-2. The Ontarian leveled the score by breaking Frech to bring the score to 4-4, then she won the set by making her third break of the match against her, at 7-5.
Stakusic, buoyed by his momentum at the end of the second set, recorded another break in the second game of the final set to give himself a 2-0 advantage over his opponent. The Canadian, however, let three break points slip away at 4-1, once again reminding us of her lack of experience – and patience – against the world elite.
The two players exchanged a break in the seventh and eighth games, which allowed Stakusic to serve for the match at 5-3. She did not miss her chance and sealed the outcome on her first match point.
Later Thursday, Eugenie Bouchard of Montreal and Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa will face Weronika Falkowska and Katarzyna Kawa.
The no 1 in the world, Iga Swiatek, is not part of the Polish team.
Canada is without 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu due to back pain.
Stakusic and Fernandez each won their singles matches the day before, helping Canada sweep Spain to top Group C.
Poland and Spain will face each other in the final match of Group C on Friday.
The winning countries from each of the four groups will advance to the semi-finals. The final must then be presented on Sunday.