The Slovak team gave a big surprise on Thursday at the Billie Jean King Cup with a brilliant comeback against one of the top favorites for the title: the United States.
Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova, who beat Ashlyn Krueger and Taylor Townsend 6-3, 3-6 and 10-8 In the tie-break tie-break, they are in charge of certifying a pass to the quarterfinals.
With this epic victory, the Slovak players, who started losing the series 1-0, earned the right to play in the quarterfinals of the tennis World Cup against Australia, this Sunday, at 10:00 am.
A tie that ended in a sudden death of many emotions, with public skepticism. Around one in the morning the bell rang with Mihalikova and Hruncakova as protagonists, melting into an embrace on the Málaga track.
After 6-3 in 32 minutes as the first low blow to the North Americans, who responded with the same medicine in the second set (3-6), A tiebreaker game ensues: the first team to reach ten points, always a difference of two, advances to the round.
There, the tension in the environment is palpable. There was a hint of heroism from the Townsend-Krueger duo, who lost 9-2 to make it 9-8, but in the final point of the match, after so much was wasted, a volley into the net allowed Slovakia to celebrate and United State to fail.
And the day was good with the 1-0 by Taylor Townsend himself in the United States, doubles specialist who happened to win outside his comfort zone, but ended up in his specialty.
The Chicago player overtook young Renata Jamrichova for first placewinner of this year’s Wimbledon Junior, in two sets (7-5 and 6-4), but Slovakia responded immediately.
Their number one tennis player, Rebecca Sramkova, tied the series at 1-1 in the second match, defeating the main asset of the North Americans, Danielle Collins, eleventh in the WTA ranking, in a duel that was resolved in two sets (6-2 and 7-5).
With the cherry on top of Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova with Slovakia, there were two comebacks experienced on the first day of tennis at Billie Jean King, as Japan was also done with Romania in the first round.
This Friday, Spain debuts at 10:00 am against Poland in the tie that should have been played on Wednesday, but was not possible due to the red alert due to rain in Malaga, in addition to the crossing between Germany and Great Britain at 5:00 pm
Source: La Verdad
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