That the role of Carla Suárez had changed after the losses of Garbiñe Muguruza and Paula Badosa, it was intuited. Although the captain, Anabel Medina, did not want to say so clearly. But the fact is that he chose her to open the first group C tie in the new Billie Jean King Cup Finals against Slovakia, on track 1 of the O2 Universun, the enclosure attached to the O2 Arena in Prague. And the 33-year-old Canarian, who plays the last matches of her career, lost 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3 in 1h49 to Viktoria Kuzmova, a hitter with a good serve, who is the 175th in the world at 23 years of age.
Carla gave her race after clearly losing the first set and she knew how to react and understand what she had to do, basically play with more firsts and put them inside with greater substance, without fear of failure. Because, in fact, it was a meeting with many unforced errors. She accumulated 39 and her rival 43. In the second set, Kuzmova swallowed the services to the body of the Spanish and the truth is Suárez was seen with many options to turn the scoreboard. But he has played very few games this season. This was the sixth and he could only win, albeit well and against a great tennis player, Ons Jabeur, at the Tokyo Games. And that slows him down, especially at the beginning of the game.
Not that the Slovak had many resources, beyond her good service, but she exploited them in the best possible way to give back. with a triumph the trust placed in her by her captain, who preferred her instead of Kucova, despite the fact that she has a better ranking (108th). Due to small details in a couple of turns, the triumph, which would have been very beautiful, escaped Carla, who had also lost to Viktoria in their only previous match, two years ago in Madrid. It’s up to Sara Sorribes to try to even the series against Schmiedlova.
Pride despite defeat
“He always enjoyed when I play as a team. It is not the result I wanted, but we are still alive and I will try to support my teammates, recover and be available in case I play the doubles “said the Las Palmas player, proud to be able to “represent” her country. “It is one of the best things that can happen to you in sport. I wanted to have played a little better at some point2. But I have fought and I have given 100% ”. He also acknowledged that there is a little “lack of rhythm in the games and this shows.” “He didn’t read the serve well, nor the game. And I gave him a lot of balls, especially in the first set.” On the decision to open the tie, she is “very grateful to the captain.”
Results, standings and schedules of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.