The second racket of the Ukrainian team was stronger than the leader of the opposing team. <\/p>\n
In Gliwice, Poland, the match meeting between Ukraine and Poland has started as part of the qualification for the unofficial World Championship for national teams – the Billie Jean King Cup. The first to take the court were Marta Kostyuk and Magda Linette.<\/p>\n
RBC-Ukraine reports on how the match went and who won, citing the official tournament website.<\/p>\n
Also read:<\/strong> Svitolina and Kostyuk against Poland: Billie Jean King Cup match schedule and where to watch for free. <\/p>\n Billie Jean King Cup, qualification<\/strong><\/p>\n Ukraine – Poland – 1:0<\/strong><\/p>\n Marta Kostyuk – Magda Linette – 6:4, 6:0<\/strong><\/p>\n Pre-match situation<\/p>\n De facto, the second racket of Ukraine, Kostyuk (WTA 27), faced the third-ranked player in Poland, Linette (WTA 55). However, since the leaders of our opponents – Iga Swiatek (WTA 4) and Magdalena Frech (WTA 39) are not playing for their country for various reasons, it turned out that the second player of the “blue-yellow” team was up against the leader of the Polish team.<\/p>\n This was the third meeting between the opponents in their careers. In the first two, Marta had consistently defeated Magdalena.<\/p>\n How the game went<\/p>\n Linette had played in the semifinals of the Australian Open three years ago and was in the top 20 of the world rankings. Now, the career of the 34-year-old tennis player is on the decline. However, her skill has not diminished, but there are issues with endurance, especially in prolonged battles.<\/p>\n Therefore, it was in the interest of the Polish athlete to start as successfully as possible and not turn the game into a marathon. This was felt in the opening set, where she did not concede to Kostyuk in any aspect, despite the fact that the Ukrainian is ten years younger and has a higher ranking.<\/p>\n The equal fight continued throughout the set, and only in the tenth game did the Ukrainian manage to make a decisive break and finish the opening part of the confrontation in her favor – 6:4.<\/p>\n However, the second set predictably followed the scenario of the Ukrainian. Linette understood that she would not be able to withstand three sets against Kostyuk and was no longer pushing herself as hard. As a result, the representative of the “blue-yellow” team won decisively. The match lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes.<\/p>\n Kostyuk achieved her 11th victory in singles matches for the national team, equaling the record of Yekaterina Volodko.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next<\/p>\n Next on the court will be the leader of the Ukrainian team, Elina Svitolina (WTA 7), and the second-ranked player from Poland, Katarzyna Kawa (WTA 160). The match will start at 19:00 Kyiv time and will conclude the first day of play.<\/p>\n The match meeting will continue on Saturday, April 11, with a doubles match. Recall that the confrontation will last until one of the teams wins three matches.<\/p>\n Earlier, we reported that Elina Svitolina revealed grand plans for the clay season.<\/p>\n rbc.ua<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The second-ranked player of the Ukrainian team outperformed the leader of the opposing team. In the Polish city of Gliwice, the match meeting Ukraine – Poland began as part of the qualification for the unofficial World Championship for national teams – the Billie Jean King Cup. The first to take the court were Marta Kostyuk and Magda Linette. [rbc.ua]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-en"],"yoast_head":"\n