The Billie Jean King Cup in Prague – A coup against the Czech Republic: Swiss women in the semi-finals – sport
- Switzerland beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the Billie Jean King Cup and reached the semi-finals, where they meet Australia on Friday.
- Double: Belinda Bencic and Jill Tishman secure a decisive victory over Lucy Hradika / Katrina Siniakova.
- 2. Single: Bencic (WTA 17) defeats Barbora Krijkova (WTA 3) 7:6 (7:2), 6:4.
- 1. Single: Viktorija Golubic (WTA 45) is subject to a strong Marketa Vondrousova (WTA 35) with 4:6, 2:6.
What a revolution! The Swiss women qualified for the semi-finals of the final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup. After beating Germany on Tuesday, Belinda Bencic and her partners also beat the Czech Republic on Thursday, thus ensuring a group win.
In the 2-1 win over the Czech favorite, the last doubles had to make the decision. In addition to captain Bencic, captain Heinz Günthardt also prepared Jil Teichmann for this – and he was on the spot.
The duo tore the puck against Lucy Hradika/Katrina Senyakova right from the start. Both Bencic and Teichmann served so excellently that they rarely came under pressure while serving themselves. They only had to give their opponents one break, but they succeeded in holding them back.
After just 1:06 hours, victory was 6:3, 6:3 – thus entry into the semi-finals. There the Swiss meet Australia on Friday at 5:00 pm. The team surrounding Captain Alicia Molik is led by Agla Tomljanovic, number 43 in the WTA rankings. In the other semi-final there will be a duel between Russia and the United States.
Bencic makes up for it
Thanks to Bencic, the Swiss got the opportunity to play in the semi-finals of the doubles. After the opening defeat to Viktoria Golubic, the Eastern Swiss were prevented from losing in the second singles match – and Bencic withstood the pressure admirably.
Although she gave up an early lead in the first half against Barbora Krezhikova, ranked 3 in the world, she could not use the set ball at 5:4. In the tiebreak, she did not give her opponent the slightest chance (7:2).
In the second set, Bencic managed to break the decisive down to 4:3 with a victory from the defensive. In the subsequent service match, the Olympic champion fell into the reserve by 0:40, but was freed from the difficult situation with 5 points in a row. Nearly two hours later, the equal victory of the Swiss woman was certain.
Vondrousova with a turn against Golubic
In the first singles match, Viktorija Golubic was clearly given up by Marketa Vondrousova despite a good performance. The Zurich-based player got off to a strong start against Bencic’s final opponent at the Tokyo Olympics. She was able to pull up to 4:1 and had two chances to apply with another break to 5:1. However, the Swiss woman did not manage to do so.
After that, her opponent definitely found the kick. Vondrousova not only won the match with a score of 4: 2, but then had 9 consecutive victories. The Czech hardly allowed herself to make any mistakes, and she always admired strong attacks.
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