After defeat at the age of 16, Anabel Medina, the captain of Spain, complained about the misfortune that his team had in the drawing when they ran into Poland at the first opportunity, a team that the Valencian predicted a big week. His prophecy is being fulfilled, since, one day after beating Spain, Team Poland defeated the mighty Czech Republic with Iga Swiatek as champion, winning their singles and doubles matches to break the tie and put their country in the semifinals. Billie Jean King Cup for the first time in history. The Polish party was huge despite the tie ending at 1:11am in Malaga.
After the disruption of the calendar due to DANA, Poland competed against the Czech Republic with a 24-hour break after defeating Spain. The Czechs were also new, because due to their position as the top seed (they are second in the world list and 11-time champions, and the country that has won the most titles in this century) they skipped the 16th tournament. . Dawid Celt, Poland’s captain, updated from the previous day: Magda Linette didn’t play, who did before Sara Sorribes was beaten for four hoursand Magdalena Frech, 25th in the world ranking and WTA 500 champion, did. However, in one of the longest opener races, it won It was Marie Bouzkova, 45th in the world and Sorribes in the usual pair of pairs, who won 6-1, 4-6 and 6-4 in 2h21.
In this way, Poland was left without any network, and with no borders due to mistakes It was her turn to trust her number one, Iga Swiatek, world number two and who had just won against Paula Badosa. The Warsaw native, for the second day in a row, struggled but won. This Saturday, in fact, he had a very bad time even for the bravest Linda Noskova, 26 years old in the world and, although he was only 19 years old, he put the five-year Grand Slam champion in serious trouble. The victory went to Swiatek 7-6 (4), 4-6 and 7-5 in 2h39 in a match in which Noskova, without any kind of difficulty, fought face to face with the Pole, who was strong during the qualifiers and extended her streak in consecutive Billie Jean King Cup matches to nine.
The day lasted longer than expected and Celt made Swiatek work overtime, while the Pole returned to the court half an hour later for two matches that started after 11:50 pm. In recent years it has been difficult to see Swiatek play doubles, as she only did so with Hurkacz in the United Cup, and she has not competed in a WTA doubles tournament since 2021. Although he has only thirty matches, he reached the final of Roland Garros in 2020, in which he lost surprisingly to the woman who was in front of him this Sunday: Katerina Siniakova, the first in the world in doubles and mixed gold Paris 2024, who played together with Bouzkova who repeated. Yeswiatek was paired with Katarzyna Kawa, and both won beating the Czechs 6-2 and 6-4 in 1h13, who were also sent home at the first opportunity.
On Monday, in the first semifinals in its history, Poland will meet a team that is repeating the semifinals for the second year in a row. Italy, last year’s runners-up, had to come back again to eliminate Japan. Ena Shibahara beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto 3-6, 6-4 and 6-4 in 2h44 to give Japan a point, but Jasmine Paolini also came to her rescue. This year’s two-time Grand Slam finalist, fourth in the world ranking (second best in these Finals after Swiatek), won the singles match against Moyuka Uchitima 6-3 and 6-4 in 75 minutes, and She doubled with Sara Errani, also the Paris Olympic gold medalist, beating Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi 6-3 and 6-4 in 76 minutes. thus give a pass to the semifinals to Italy who deserve everything.
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