Czechia booked a place in Sunday’s Billie Jean King Cup championship tie in Shenzhen after Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova completed a 2-0 semifinal win over Spain, ending an eight-year wait to return to the final.
Key takeaways
- Muchova opened the tie with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
- Noskova secured the deciding point, defeating Cristina Bucsa 7-6(5), 6-2.
- Czechia will contest its first Billie Jean King Cup final since 2018.
- The Czech team is pursuing a 12th title in the competition.
- Italy and Ukraine will play the other semifinal on Saturday, Sept. 26.
Muchova supplies the opening point
World No. 8 Muchova was back in the singles line-up after sitting out Czechia’s quarterfinal against Great Britain, and she gave captain Barbora Strycova the start she needed against Bouzas Maneiro.
The first set lasted an hour and demanded patience from Muchova. Spain’s Bouzas Maneiro created five break opportunities, but Muchova erased four of them and made better use of her own chances on return, taking two of three break points on the way to a 7-5 set.
Muchova tightened her grip in the second set, closing out a 6-4 victory to put Czechia one point from the final. The result extended her recent run to 13 wins from 15 WTA Tour matches since June.
Noskova recovers in tiebreak before closing the tie
Strycova again turned to Noskova for the second singles rubber, as she had in the quarterfinal, and the World No. 6 delivered the clinching win against world No. 35 Bucsa.
Noskova made a rapid start, taking six of the opening seven points of the match, but Bucsa forced the first set into a tiebreak. The Czech trailed 4-2 in the breaker before turning it around to claim the set 7-6(5).
From there, Noskova moved clear in the second set, winning 6-2 and taking the last eight points of the contest to seal Czechia’s passage.
Czechia’s depth also includes Top 30 singles players Marie Bouzkova and Sara Bejlek, along with doubles world No. 1 Katerina Siniakova. The squad now awaits either Italy, the two-time reigning champion, or Ukraine in Sunday’s final.
Italy, led by world No. 20 Jasmine Paolini, reached the semifinals after beating host nation China. Ukraine advanced with a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Belgium behind a team featuring world No. 7 Elina Svitolina. Ukraine had originally named fellow Top 10 player Marta Kostyuk, but she withdrew before the quarterfinal stage to rest her wrist.
