Iga Swiatek needed three sets and almost three hours to beat Linda Noskova at the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals to keep Poland in play for a semi-final spot.
The 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain, reached the quarter-final stages, and the first ties proved to be incredibly exciting. First, Italy completed an inspired comeback, led by Jasmine Paolini, to beat Japan 2-1.
After that, Poland and the Czech Republic stepped up, and after two matches, the tie is tied, but both matches could have really gone either way, as all four singles players that were in action showed their best tennis.
Swiatek previously powered Poland to a win over Spain, but once again, she was the second player from her country to step onto the court. Before that, it was one of her compatriots, and even though Magda Linette won her match against Spain, the Polish team captain, Dawid Celt, chose Magdalena Frech against Czechia's Marie Bouzkova.
French is the higher-ranked player, but she came into the match in worse form. She lost in her last two matches. Her first loss came at the Wuhan Open to Aryna Sabalenka, and she was then stunned by qualifier Zeynep Sonmez at the Japan Open in Tokyo.
Bouzkova, on the other hand, came into the match having played in the semi-final of a WTA 250 tournament in Jiujiang. That form was on show in the first set of this match, as the Czech player easily won it 6-1.
Frech was then able to fight back in the second set, winning it 6-4, but Bouzkova was the better player when it mattered, winning the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, to give the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead ahead of the second match.
While against Spain, Swiatek's task was to close out the tie, this time, she had to win to save her country from elimination. Her opponent was Linda Noskova, a player she knows very well, having lost to her at this year's Australian Open.
On top of that, the two meet also two times during the Sunshine Double. While the Polish player easily won at the Indian Wells Open, she had to play three brutal sets against Noskova to beat her in Miami.
This match could likely remind her of that win, as she once again had to show all of her experience to overcome the Czech player. In the first set, Swiatek had a one-break lead, twice, but she lost it both times and had to decide the set in a tie-break.
She was able to do that, winning the first-set tie-break 7-4 to establish an important advantage in the set. However, Noskova was able to strike back, winning the second set 6-4 after converting the only break point of the set.
The third set proved to be a proper battle, with Swiatek losing a one-break lead once again. This time, it could have cost her dearly, but it didn't, as she broke her opponent's serve at the last possible moment.
Swiatek was able to win the match 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5, leveling the score of the tie to 1-1, leaving it to her country's doubles specialists to decide the tie against the Czech Republic.
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