Rogers replaces Pegula on BJK Cup Finals team

Shelby Rogers has been named as the replacement for Jessica Pegula on the U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team for the upcoming Finals in Prague. The 29-year-old joins Danielle Collins, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe and Caroline Dolehide on Captain Kathy Rinaldi's squad, which is bidding to win Team USA a record-extending 19th title in the competition.

Pegula was forced to withdraw from the competition on Tuesday as a result of a close contact COVID-19 case. "Out of precaution, I won’t be able to play [Billie Jean King Cup] this year," Pegula wrote on social media. "I am upset I won’t get the chance to represent my country and that the year ends for me this way. I wish the team the best of luck and will be rooting from home!"

In Prague, Rogers will reunite with Stephens and Vandeweghe, with whom she won the Billie Jean King Cup title in 2017. Rogers played in all three ties for the U.S. that year, and she and Vandeweghe clinched the title over Belarus in Minsk in a fifth-and-decisive doubles match vs. Aryna Sabalenka and Aliaksandra Sasnovich, leading the U.S. to its first title in the competition since 2000.

Rogers is currently ranked world No. 40 in singles and reached the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier this month.

The six-day Finals, played inside the O2 Arena, will feature 12 teams drawn into four groups to compete in a round-robin format, with the group winners advancing to the knockout-style semifinals. The U.S. was drawn into Group C and will play Slovakia on Tues., Nov. 2, and Spain, on Weds., Nov. 3, both on Centre Court and not before 5 p.m. local time. Each tie will be a best-of-three competition with two singles matches and one doubles match.

The full field, schedule and ticketing information is available at billiejeankingcup.com.