Ukraine 2-0 Romania: Svitolina ensures her team stay on top
12/04/2024 20:49
Ukraine lead Romania 2-0 in their Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier after wins for Lesia Tsurenko and Elina Svitolina on the opening day
By Matt Roberts
Ukraine are just one match win away from reaching the Billie Jean King Cup Finals for the first time following a strong opening day of their Qualifier against Romania.
Lesia Tsurenko came back to beat Ana Bogdan 3-6 6-2 6-0 before Elina Svitolina pressed home the advantage with a tough 6-3 7-5 victory over Jaqueline Cristian.
Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the tie is being played at Amelia Island in Florida, with the venue chosen by the Elina Svitolina Foundation which manages the Ukrainian women’s national team. Afterwards, Svitolina had some poignant words about how much it means to be playing this tie, no matter the location.
“I saw so many faces, so many Ukrainian fans”, she said. “This is really special and it means a lot to us to see Ukrainian fans from all over the United States. I knew that playing for your country always brings you more nerves. It’s normal to be a little bit up and down, but for me it was important to stay locked in and just be strong mentally. I tried to draw motivation from the Ukrainian spirit, and that’s why I’m here to show it on the court.”
Sealed with a forehand winner 👌 🇺🇦@ElinaSvitolina gets past Cristian 6-3, 7-5 to give Ukraine a 2-0 lead in the tie!
— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) April 12, 2024
#BJKCup pic.twitter.com/sZTWdzLHYk
Gusty conditions were a feature of the day and, in the opening match, both players struggled on serve throughout the two hour contest, with plenty of aborted ball tosses and 16 breaks in total.
But it was Tsurenko who raised her game in testing conditions. After not managing a hold of serve in the opener, the Ukrainian completely flipped the momentum during a gruelling fourth game of the second set, which she eventually won by converting her fourth break point.
She then consolidated the break by holding from 0-40 down. It was an effort which gave Tsurenko the upper hand as the points started to become more physical and she won 9 of the next 10 games to seal an impressive victory in her first Billie Jean King Cup appearance since 2020.
“I feel that at the beginning I was not really feeling the rhythm and I made a lot of mistakes”, she said. “But I was very positive inside and I was telling good things to myself like ‘just continue fighting, you’re really good, you can do it’.”
“It’s a very important win for me personally as part of the team because I haven’t played for a long time and now I’m back. I was very nervous because I really wanted to get points for my team. I have one already and I’m really happy.”
In the day’s second match, Svitolina stamped her authority on the contest by breaking serve straight away, and she was always a step ahead in the first set.
Cristian recently reached the quarter-finals on the green clay of Charleston and on the same surface in Florida she proved to be a stubborn opponent in the second set. She twice broke Svitolina’s serve to take the lead, but both times Svitolina broke straight back to keep in touch.
With the set seemingly heading for a tiebreak, Svitolina turned her level up a notch and created a couple of match points on Cristian’s serve. The Romanian saved the first with a huge forehand winner, but then Svitolina returned the favour with a big forehand of her own, meaning she’s now won five of his last six matches in this competition.
It leaves Ukraine needing just one victory on Saturday to book their spot in Seville for November’s Finals.
But Romania's captain, Horia Tecau, saw enough from his side to believe that a comeback is possible.
"The matches were close and were battles, even though the first one ended with 6-0 third set. For us it shows that we're close. In this format we believe until the end and we can come back stronger tomorrow."
Ukraine v Romania
