Billie Jean King Cup
Austria’s tennis women challenge Ukraine in Texas
Almost 8,800 kilometers from Vienna as the crow flies, Austria's women's tennis team will face Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup this weekend!
The play-off duel will be played on neutral ground in McKinney near Dallas in the US state of Texas due to the turmoil of war in the opponent's country. It's all about advancing to the qualifying round for the finals of the 2025 competition. The Austrians are the underdogs, but they shouldn't be without a chance.
Probably both teams without top 100 players
None of Ukraine's four top 60 players made the long journey overseas: Elina Svitolina (WTA 23rd), Dajana Jastremska (33rd) and Anhelina Kalinina (57th) were not nominated and ultimately the ÖTV team, supported by sports director Jürgen Melzer's presence and expertise, is unlikely to see Ukraine's number 1 Marta Kostjuk (18th). It seems that both teams will be competing without any top 100 players.
Neither Red-White-Red is ranked in the top 200, but Sinja Kraus (222nd) proved her good form in the fall by winning three ITF titles. Also nominated are Tamira Paszek (366th), Tamara Kostic (500th) and Julia Grabher (523rd), who is fighting her way back from a wrist injury. The team, coached by captain Marion Maruska, has been on site since Sunday evening and has been training intensively since Wednesday. The matches will be played from 7 p.m. (CET), with the draw scheduled for this Friday (7.30 p.m.).
"Convinced that our ladies can do it!"
The still active ATP pro Illja Martschenko will act as the Ukrainian captain, and with Lesia Zurenko (118th) and Anastasija Soboliewa (220th) he still has two players in his line-up who are ranked higher than all the Austrians. They are joined by Katarina Sawazka (229th) and doubles specialist Nadija Kitschenok (doubles 40th). Due to this constellation, Maruska naturally sees her team's chances as greater, and Zurenko is also beatable. "I'm convinced that our ladies can do it."
International matches always have their own laws, said the 51-year-old, who is also the ÖTV sports coordinator. In her opinion, advancing in the international competition(www.oetv.tv) would give Austrian tennis a valuable boost. Melzer sees the starting position in a similar way to Maruska, with hard court as a surface also tending to favor the opponent. "But if an opportunity presents itself, we naturally want to make the most of it."
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