won the dead rubber. For the first time since 1999, Russia left the World Group. In the 2017 season, Russia was drawn against Chinese Taipei for the first time in the post-Soviet era (USSR team played against Chinese Taipei in 1985, 3:0). Captain Myskina called Ekaterina Makarova and three Fed Cub debuts Natalia Vikhlyantseva, Anna Blinkova and Anna Kalinskaya. Russia won 4–1. Russia, led by Vesnina, Pavlyuchenkova, Kasatkina and Blinkova, were strong favorites playing at home in Moscow against Belgium in the play-offs as Belgium was without their leading ladies Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens. They however lost 2-3 mainly due to a strong performance from Elise Mertens, the highest ranked Belgian at place 66. The 2018 marked a new low for Russia with their demotion to the Zonal Groups for the first time in two decades, after consecutive losses to Slovakia and Latvia. Russia got out of the Europe\Africa Zone in 2019 season losing only one match following a Pool draw against Poland and Denmark, followed by a play-off with Sweden. Afterwards there came the Group II play-offs, where a victory against Italy returned Russia to the World Group Qualifiers. 2020-21: fifth title under RTF flag In the rechristened Billie Jean King Cup, Russia entered the qualifying round visiting Romania in Cluj, where Veronika Kudermetova lost her singles matches, but Blinkova, Kalinskaya and Ekaterina Alexandrova helped Russia return to the Finals for the first time since 2016. The COVID-19 pandemic postponed the tournament conclusion to 2021, where the Russian athletes wound up having to compete under the Russian Tennis Federation name and flag due to a December 2020 decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) not allowing the use of the Russian name, flag, or anthem. In a group stage against Canada and France, the Russians won all but one of their matches. A semifinal against the United States had newcomer Liudmila Samsonova beating Sloane Stephens and Pavlyuchenkova losing to Danielle Collins, and then Kudermetova and Samsonovoa won the tiebreaker to return the Russians to the decisive game after 6 years. Against Switzerland, Kasatkina defeated Jil Teichmann, and Samsonova came back from losing the first round to Belinda Bencic to get the Russians their fifth title, the first since 1999. 2022 suspension After the 2022 Russia invasion of Ukraine, the International Tennis Federation suspended Russia and Belarus from Billie Jean King Cup competitions. Results * Soviet Union