MADRID, 1 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carla Suárez has debuted with a defeat against Viktoria Kuzmova in the first match of group C of the Spain-Slovakia tie of the Billie Jean King Cup finals, which are played at the O2 Arena in Prague, after losing in three sets, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3.
In her last tournament as a professional after overcoming Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Carla Suárez gave up in one hour and 49 minutes to Viktoria Kuzmova, world number 175, but who exhibited good service and a solid game from the back of the court that ahead (1-0) in the tie to Slovakia.
It was that service that advanced the Slovak number two in the first set with 4-0, which was enough to sentence the first set with a direct serve 6-2 in just 33 minutes against a Suárez who was powerless against rival service.
On the other hand, the Canarian tennis player equalized the game with her forehand, which allowed her to reach 3-0 and 6-3 in 35 minutes against a more irregular Kuzmova in her serve and that alternated more unforced errors than winners.
With a rest at the feet of Suárez, the second Slovak player achieved a break in the fourth game (3-1) that seemed definitive in the third set. A reaction from the Spanish returned to balance the first point of the tie (3-3), although a new ‘break’ by Kuzmova, settled again on his serve, put the final 6-3.
In the second match of the tie, the two numbers ‘one’ will face each other this Monday, the Spanish Sara Sorribes and the Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Spain shares a group with Slovakia and the United States. Each tie is played to the best of 3 matches, 2 singles and one doubles. The winner of each group will qualify for the semifinals of a tournament in which Group A includes France, Russia and Canada; in B, Australia, Belarus and Belgium; and in D, the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland.
The two finalists will qualify directly for the final phase next year, while those classified between third and tenth will have to play the qualifying phase of 2022, which will be drawn this Saturday in Prague. The countries that occupy the last two places, eleventh and twelfth, will be relegated to World Group II.