BJK Cup: Swiatek beats Badosa, put Poland into quarterfinals

Iga Swiatek and No.38 Magda Linette sealed victory for Poland over Spain in the first round of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Malaga, delivering Poland two singles wins for an insurmountable 2-0 lead.

The best-of-three tie was postponed from Wednesday due to a severe weather alert in the region. Linette opened the festivities with a marathon 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-4 defeat of Sara Sorribes Tormo in 3 hours and 51 minutes. Swiatek closed out the win by overcoming a second-set wobble to beat Badosa 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1.

“I wouldn’t say I pushed us to quarterfinals,” Swiatek said on court. “Magda played an amazing match in the morning. We both did it. I’m really happy that we finally won a match at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.”

Poland advances to the quarterfinals to face 11-time champions the Czech Republic. After Karolina Muchova’s withdrawal ahead of the event, the Czech squad will be comprised of Linda Noskova, Marie Bouzkova, Sara Bejlek and Katerina Siniakova.

“In the beginning, I felt like it was my best match since I’m back after US Open,” Swiatek said, “but later on for sure she pushed me and there was a lot of pressure. The tie-break, I knew every point mattered and I did one little mistake and unfortunately it went her way.

“But I knew I could come back in the third set and try to win it for Poland.”

Earlier, Linette put Poland up 1-0 on the hosts by coming back from 3-0 down in the third set to earn her first career win over Sorribes Tormo. Linette had lost all four of her previous meetings with Sorribes Tormo, including at the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

“I hate playing Sara so much!” she said in her on-court interview. “I knew it was going to take me four hours, and it did.”