The Czech Republic’s tennis players lived up to their role as favorites at the start of the Billie Jean King Cup. In the new edition of last year’s final, the Czech Republic defeated defending champions Switzerland at the start of the final tournament in Seville and can already make the semi-finals clear against the USA on Friday. Only the top four in the preliminary round groups reach the semifinals.
In the first game of Group A, the Czech Republic could even afford to give Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova a break just four days after her exit from the WTA finals in Cancun, Mexico. Instead, Linda Noskova, who beat Celine Naef 7:6 (7:2), 4:6, 6:4, and Marie Bouzkova took the decisive 2-0 lead with a 6:4, 6:4 win against Viktorija Golubic .
“I’m overjoyed that I was able to get the second point and thus the victory for our team,” said Bouzkova: “The fans who traveled with us are so loud, that gives us a lot of support. I enjoy the team spirit here.”
The subsequent doubles match between seven-time Grand Slam winners Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova against Golubic/Jil Teichmann no longer had any impact on the outcome of the game. In the first game of the day, Slovenia beat Australia 2-1 in Group B.
The German women will take part in the tournament on Thursday against Italy (10 a.m./Tennis Channel), and on Friday morning the supposedly toughest competitor, France, will be waiting in the fight for the semi-final ticket.
The selection is led by team captain Rainer Schüttler from the world number 58. Tatjana Maria (Bad Saulgau). Laura Siegemund (Metzingen), newly crowned double winner at the WTA Finals, is the second top 100 player in the squad, which is completed by Anna-Lena Friedsam (Neuwied), Eva Lys (Hamburg) and Jule Niemeier (Dortmund). becomes.