MALAGA, Spain — Iga Swatek’s singles and doubles wins helped Poland bounce back from a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the Billie Jean King Cup on Saturday.
Poland will meet Italy in the semifinals after Jasmine Paolini also led Italy to a 2-1 win over Japan with wins in her singles and doubles matches.
Marie Bouzkova beat Magdalena Frech 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 for the Czech Republic on the indoor hard courts of the Palacio del Deportes in Malaga. Got ahead by 0.
Second-place Swiatek equalized with a 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-5 win over Linda Noskova.
The five-time Grand Slam champion returned to the court after a brief break to help Katarzyna Kawa beat two of the world’s best doubles players, Katerina Siniakova and Bouzkova, 6-2, 6-4.
“Let’s have fun with this,” Swiatek said. “Obviously it was a tiring day and a really tough game, but I’m really happy to have won the last game.”
She added that she had not played doubles in three years and praised Kawa’s well-placed passing shot in the doubles lane as key to the victory.
Swiatek showed no signs of fatigue in the 3 hours and 50 minutes of continuous play. The Polish pair converted all four of their break opportunities to post more winners (29-18) than the Czech Republic.
Poland is looking for its first title. The Czech Republic has won the title for the 11th time, second only to the United States’ 18 wins.
Fourth-ranked Paolini, who advanced to the Wimbledon and French Open finals, defeated Moyuka Uchijima 6-3, 6-4 to tie the score at 1-1. She then helped Sara Errani win the quarterfinals by beating Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi 6-3, 6-4.
Japan took the lead with Ena Shibahara defeating Elisabetta Cocciareto 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Uchijima stole Paolini’s first service game. But that was just a minor mistake in a dominant display from the Italian. Paolini went on to win consecutive matches, breaking Uchijima four times and winning 17 forehands.
In the doubles match, the Italian team defeated the Japanese team four times, making only 14 mistakes compared to 23 by their opponents.
“Japan is a tough cookie, as they say in English,” said Italy captain Tatiana Garbin. “It was fun to see this level because they played with such courage. Our players played unbelievable doubles, so we did it.”
Italy Lost in last year’s final To Canada.
