The 20-year-old Viennese Kraus had to face the world number 18 in the first game of the day. Ostapenko was beaten 0:6 6:3 1:6, then Tamira Paszek made it 2:2. The Vorarlberg native beat Diana Marcinkevica 6:2 6:3. Austria, which started without top player Julia Grabher, will play in the qualifying round on 14/15. April 2023 for a place in the lucrative final tournament with twelve nations, the draw for which will be made on Sunday in Glasgow.
“I never thought about who was on the other side. I just focused on the Sinja and our match plan, playing point by point and blocking out everything else. We managed that quite well, ”said Klaffner after the game in an ORF interview. Kraus saw it the same way. “Of course we were nervous beforehand, but we believed in ourselves. We are a well-rehearsed team and believe in ourselves, we can trust each other blindly. I was just trying to tune out everything and enjoy. We can’t hide anymore, Austria’s women’s tennis is here. We are just happy.”
“It’s unbelievable that they won the doubles. We were always the outsiders, but I still believed in them every single time,” said ÖTV captain Marion Maruska. “I’m really happy that we did it and that we’ll play next year, in the qualifier for the final.” It was the first home game for the female ÖTV team in 14 years, and this home advantage was used to win.
Paszek equalizes
Paszek, who had not been able to use two match points against Ostapenko the day before, started with a break in her second singles game before the doubles and quickly increased to 3:0. The two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist had to give up the serve to make it 3-1, but then made it 4-1 against number 300 in the ranking with another break. But then Paszek had to take a medical break, during which she had her left big toe treated. She was not visibly handicapped afterwards. After 49 minutes, Paszek made the 1-0 lead.
The second set was more balanced, Paszek missed a 3:1 lead and had to give up her serve to make it 3:3. After another break to make it 4:3, Paszek didn’t let anything burn. After 84 minutes she was able to celebrate a victory that was not unimportant for her further career. “It really meant a lot to me today. I knew I was in good spirits. I was physically a bit ‘struggle’ (fighting, ed.), my circulation collapsed a bit.”
Kraus gains experience
Kraus, who had equalized on the first day with a two-set win against Daniela Vismane to make it 1-1, had already clearly lost beforehand. “It was very difficult, I just couldn’t get into the match. Right from the start she shot the balls around my ears left and right and hardly made any mistakes,” Kraus stated after her first match against a top 20 player. She felt that Ostapenko “gaged up a notch” compared to the day before.
She tried to throw her opponent out of rhythm with a few variants like the slice, but: “That was nothing, I completely lost my rhythm with it,” admitted Kraus. The match didn’t start well for her, the 20-year-old had to give up the first set 6-0 after just 22 minutes.
When Ostapenko had a breakball in the eighth game en suite in the second game of the second round, everything seemed ready for a smooth victory. But Kraus reared up. After a break to make it 3:2, she gave up the service immediately, but from the 3:3 Kraus dictated the match in this set. The world rankings-197. took the number 18’s serve to 4:3 and 6:3. Ostapenko recovered quickly from this setback and was as superior as in the first set. The 25-year-old pulled away with two zero games in a row. Only at 0:5 did Kraus get another game of honor.
