Ukraine – Czech Republic. One more chance to enter the elite as the weak

On April 14 and 15, the Billie Jean King Cup World Final qualifying match will be played between the national teams of Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Nominally, the home meeting for Ukrainians will be held on the courts of the Mega Saray hotel in Belek, Turkey. This will be the first face-to-face meeting of these teams at an international level.

Who will play?

Four tennis players, who can now be safely called the main tennis players of our team, went to Turkey. Since they were the ones who gave the results in the last matches, this squad was read before the match.

Lesya Tsurenko, who is in very good shape at the moment, could theoretically strengthen the team, but Lesya’s injury rate is a significant disadvantage in team competitions where there is practically no room for error. There will be no next tournament in a week. Angelina Kalinina still does not want to play in the national team, as she has her own reasons. Katerina Beindl has yet to regain her form following her injury, Elina Svitolina has just returned after the decision and there is no one else on the ground to strengthen this squad. Nadezhda Kichenok may be helpful in the double combination, but it’s unlikely that Kostyuk or Yastremskaya will do any worse.

The composition of the Ukrainian team:

Marta Kostyuk (#38 WTA, #32 double WTA),
Dayana Yastremska (No. 147 WTA),
Katarina Zawatskaya (No. 261 WTA),
Lyudmila Kichenok (#8 WTA doubles).

Captain: Mihail Filima

The Czech national team is currently one of the strongest teams in the world and has a place in the history of the tournament (formerly Fed Cup). The Czechs won the championship 11 times (including Czechoslovak heritage) and once again reached the final. The last championship was taken in 2018, in the final the Americans were defeated in the old format.

For this match, the Czechs managed to join the younger generation, who have already achieved remarkable success, alongside Roland Garros 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova. On Friday, we faced Marketa Vondrousova, who also played in the clay major final. Lost to Ashleigh Barty in the 2019 championship game. Vondrousova is the most experienced name in this squad, she played 11 matches for the national team and got 10 wins. For example, Kreychikova won only 1 of 4 matches, and even this doubles match.

Also included in the application is Karolina Muchova, winner of junior Roland Garros 2021 Linda Noskova and finalist of the WTA clay tournament in Prague. Firstly, this is a debut in the national team, the second has already played several matches. Sarah Beylek joined the team for the first time. She replaced Katerina Sinyakova, who injured her ankle in Miami.

Czech national team roster:

Barbora Kreychikova (number 12 WTA, number 2 – doubles)
Karolina Muchova (No. 52 WTA)
Linda Noskova (#53 WTA)
Marketa Vondrousova (No. 82 WTA, No. 74 – doubles)
Sarah Beylek (#155 WTA)
Captain: Petr Pala

What shape are Ukrainian women in?

Answering this question is not easy. For example, Marta Kostyuk has not played for three weeks, this year we did not see her on the ground. He had some controversial matches after winning his first title in Austin, but that’s not surprising. Expectations increased, pressure added – you have to get used to it. Nevertheless, Marta remains the main hope in this team, without her victories it will be impossible to achieve a positive result.

Katarina Zawatskaya continues to rise in the rankings after a massive drop, coming out with varying degrees of success. But last year she became a key player in the national team. Katya’s victory in the match against Shelby Rogers allowed us to turn the intrigue in the match we lost to the Americans in the doubles-only match last year. In November, Zavatskaya supported Kostyuk’s initiative on the first day, defeating Japan’s No. 1 Moyuka Uchijima, deciding the outcome of the match by 90%. We also know that Katarina’s favorite surface is clay and she plays much better.

Still, Dayana Yastremskaya seemed to get the role of the second number. Maybe it would, but it had some issues with the preparation. Before coming to Turkey, Dayana was in Odessa and could not fully train there. He arrived at the team location only on Wednesday and had a full practice session with the team captain. That’s why, according to Mikhail Filima, her choice fell on Zavatskaya on the day of the first match. Yastremskaya retains the opportunity to play solo on the second day and perform in a duo combination with Lyudmila Kichenok. As a couple, we now have two study options: Kichenok / Kostyuk and Kichenok / Yastremskaya.

Luda, on the other hand, had a significant event in her personal life on Wednesday, getting engaged to her boyfriend Stanislav Khmarsky, who is also her coach. This should definitely bring positive emotions to Lyudmila before the match, the main thing is that the fifth meeting decides something in terms of the tournament.

What are the teams fighting for?

The team that wins the upcoming meeting will play in the final draw of the tournament in early November this year. The losing team will go to the playoffs.

Match Schedule

Day one (Friday, 14.04)

11:00 – Marta Kostyuk – Marketa Vondrousova (0-0 H2H)
13:00* – Katarina Zawatskaya – Barbora Krejcikova (0-1 H2H)

Second day (Saturday, 15.04)

11:00 – Marta Kostyuk – Barbora Kreychikova (2-1 H2H)
13:00* – Katarina Zawatskaya – Marketa Vondrousova (0-1 H2H)
15:00* – Lyudmila Kichenok / Dayana Yastremskaya – Karolina Muchova / Linda Noskova
* – Approximate time

Billie Jean King Cup Ukraine – Czech Republic match will be broadcast live on Sport1 TV channel.

To guess

The Czech team is the clear favourite, no one doubts that. The positions of Ukrainian women are approximately the same as before they left for the United States. Maybe a little worse, because the Americans lost their first two tricks before the game. The Czechs lost Sinyakova, and that may play a role too. You have to understand that the chances of beating a double Kreychikov / Sinyakov were scanty, which meant you had to win three out of four singles. Now added “two odd + one double” of possible winning options. The chances of this are small, but at least they appear.

To understand the full picture, it should be noted that Kreichikova is currently seventh in the WTA Championship race, Mukhova and Vondrousova are in the top thirty, Noskova is 32nd. We can humbly answer the 18th line of Marta Kostyuk. If you recall past matches, Zavatskaya can show a game on the dirt floor at the top 50. According to Filima, he looked solid in practice matches with Kostyuk this week.

Marta will have to initiate the meeting, a lot will depend on the outcome of her game against Vondrousova.

Prediction Sport.ua: Czech Republic won 3-1