Updated12. April 2024, 7:48 p.m.
Tennis: Switzerland on the verge of elimination in the Billie Jean King Cup
After the singles defeats of Simona Waltert and Céline Naef on Friday, the Swiss team is led 2-0 by Poland in qualifying for the Billie Jean King Cup. She no longer has the right to make mistakes.
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Brice Cheneval
The Swiss comfort Céline Naef, beaten by the Polish Magdalena Frech in qualifying for the Billie Jean King Cup, Friday in Bienne.
Urs Lindt/Freshfocus
The fate of the Swiss team in the Billie Jean King Cup rests on his young shoulders and that is perhaps what made him burst into tears. Beaten in singles on Friday in Bienne by Magdalena Frech, the 52nd player in the world, Céline Naef (18 years old, WTA 148) let her sadness shine through with her teammates. Her valiant defeat 7-6 (10/8), 5-7, 3-6, despite winning the first set and showing good resistance in the second, followed that of Grisonne’s Simona Waltert (23 years old, WTA 158) against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek (3-6, 1-6).
At home, Switzerland, deprived of its two best elements, Zurich’s Viktorija Golubic (WTA 78), weakened in her left leg, as well as Saint-Gall’s Belinda Bencic (WTA 90), who is preparing the birth of her first child, finds itself trailing 2-0 in its qualifying clash with Poland.
One defeat away from elimination
The Swiss selection, led by Heinz Günthardt, already no longer has the right to make mistakes if it wants to return to the final phase of a competition that it won in 2022, a year after being an unfortunate finalist. The Swiss are condemned to a monumental feat: the third match, scheduled for Saturday at 5:30 p.m., will pit Céline Naef and Iga Swiatek against each other. A new setback for the first named would put an end to the meager hopes of his camp.
If Naef wins, which would be a remarkable feat, Simona Waltert should then win against Magdalena Frech to offer Switzerland the opportunity to qualify for the decisive doubles. This would then pit Céline Naef and Jil Teichmann, on one side, against Maja Chwalinska and Katarzyna Kawa, respectively 293rd and 178th in the WTA rankings.
The nation that emerges victorious from this opposition will qualify for the final phase of the Billie Jean King Cup, scheduled for next November in Seville.
2024-04-12 17:48:43
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