Sara Sorribes squandered a 3-0 lead in the third set and, facing a final sprint victory from her rival, let slip the first point of the Spain-Poland tie in the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, in Malaga, by 7- 6 (6), 2-6 and 6-4.
The winning team of this match will face the Czech Republic on Saturday in the quarterfinals. The two number one seeds from each team, Paula Badosa and Iga Swiatek, will play in the second round.
Sorribes recovered twice in the first set to break down. The woman from Castellón, 106th in the world, anchored at the back of the court, contains the attacks of Linette, 38th WTA, to 6-6. But in the tiebreaker, although Sorribes was aiming for a victory with a 0-3, he could not stay strong in the following points and lost 8-6.
The Spaniard’s 3-0 lead at the start of the second set, after a step forward in attack, was a cushion he used to take the lead. The Pole, on the other hand, accumulated errors and was unable to take the set without doing anything to prevent it.
The battle for the third set was Titanic. Sorribes took a 3-0 lead again, but Linette made up for the deficit after a marathon sixth game. The Spaniard’s similarity began to lengthen, his return often ran into the net and his rival noticed the fall (4-3).
The game started again and again. At 5-5, the Pole served to win. Sorribes saved two match points before Linette closed out the match, first at the net and then with a good serve that forced a bad return from the Spaniard.
The winner finished with 79 unforced errors, compared to 26 for the loser. But he took a greater risk and found his reward.
It was a long and emotional fight from the opening moments. Spanish players wore crepe on their kits as a sign of mourning for the Dana victims, as well as the inscription ‘Fuerza Valencia’ on the back of their jackets. During the performance of the Spanish song, they held a senyera and Sorribes could not hold back his tears.
The two teams have met three times in the BJKC, with the Spanish team 2-1. The last confrontation was in 2023, with a Hispanic victory.
If the doubles is to be played, those chosen to play are, in principle, Marina Bassols Ribera / Jessica Bouzas Maneiro for Spain and Magdalena Frech / Katarzyna Kawa for Poland.
This tie was supposed to be played on Wednesday, but was postponed due to bad weather conditions.
Source: La Verdad
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