Czechia knocks out Great Britain, awaits Spain or Kazakhstan in the semifinals

Linda Noskova, sixth in the world, defeated the British this Tuesday after one hour and 41 minutes Katie Boulter (54) by 6-2 and 7-6 (3) and qualified the Czech Republic for the semifinals of the Billie Jean King Cup, after the victory of Marie Bouzkova (26) against Sonay Kartal (127) in the first match of the tie.

On the hard court of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center Arena, Noskova imposed her serve from the beginning, added 15 aces, did not concede any breaking balls and closed the match with another direct serve.

The team of the Czech Republicwinner 2-0, now awaits the winner of Wednesday’s match between Spain and Kazakhstan.

Boulter started with two double faults on his first serve and gave up the game; Noskova confirmed the break and broke the British serve again in a third long game, which she had to insist on before opening a 3-0 lead.

From there, her serve sustained a first set in which Boulter barely found any opportunities for the rest and the Czech closed 6-2.

The British offered more resistance in the second set, especially because she gained confidence with the serve: she kept her first four turns and, when Noskova had two break points at 4-4, she responded to go up 5-4 and force her rival to serve to continue in the lead.

Noskova made it through that process without conceding a set point, while Boulter held serve again to go ahead 6-5.

The Czech then went through her most delicate moment on serve, when a double fault allowed Boulter to reach 30-30 while Noskova served to force the tiebreaker.

An ace and another serve point got her out of trouble and took the set to a tiebreak, after twelve games without a break.

In the tiebreaker, service once again made the difference. Noskova took advantage with several aces, reached 6-3 and closed the match with an open ace on her first ball of the match.

Her victory completed the work that Bouzkova had started with a suffered 7-6 (2), 4-6 and 6-4 against Kartal.