Although it started with a 0-2 score in Florida on Saturday, Romania, with its back against the wall, performed fantastically on the American green clay and won three times against Ukraine, through the same two heroines Ana Bogdan and Jaqueline Cristian, sending our country for the first time to the final BJK Cup tournament.
Jaqueline Cristian and Ana Bogdan won the decisive match against the twins Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadia Kichenok, with a score of 6-2, 7-6, even though in the second set, at 4-5, our girls saved two set points.
The day started perfectly in the USA with Ana Bogdan's victory over Elina Svitolina, a tough and very long match against the former winner of the WTA Finals and top 5 WTA player, with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 3-6. Another difficult match followed, in which Jaqueline Cristian had to come back from 0-1 in sets to triumph with the final score on the scoreboard: 6-2, 4-6, 4-6.
Therefore, Romania advances for the first time to the final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup, the former FedCup, where the top 12 nations in the world compete, in the fall, between November 12 and 17, in Seville, Spain.
Ana Bogdan and Jaqueline Cristian played over 7 hours on the court on a truly remarkable Saturday for Romanian tennis. In the decisive doubles match, initially, the young Mara Gae and Anca Todoni were officially scheduled, but non-playing captain Horia Tecău chose to rely on experience, and he did well.
Already qualified for Seville are the champions Canada, the runner-up Italy, the host country Spain, and the wild card Czech Republic.