Captain of the Austrian women’s team: The third set of the doubles match was very stubborn. It was not our girls who lost, but Ukrainian tennis players who won

Marion Marushkacaptain Austrian women’s tennis teamcommented on the dramatic defeat from Ukraine (2:3) in the playoff match Billie Jean King Cup 2024.

“Of course, there are a lot of emotions right now. We tried to get the girls excited as much as possible, because there were quite a lot of Ukrainian fans in the stands. I think Tamira and Sinya played very, very well and can’t fault themselves for anything. The third set of the doubles match was very stubborn and it must be said that it was not our girls who lost, but the Ukrainian tennis players who won.”

“The fact that we lost so minimally to Ukraine is actually a super performance by all our players. We proved once again that we have a very good team and have the potential to win against much stronger teams. This gives me confidence that we will be able to do this next year – even if the Euro-African group will be very difficult,” the mentor concluded.

Let us remind you that after two victories in singles by Signi Kraus (over Katarina Zavacka and Lesya Tsurenko), Austria took a 2:1 lead in the confrontation with Ukraine. However, Ukraine first equalized the score thanks to Zavatskaya’s victory over Yulia Graber, and then won a strong-willed victory in the doubles – the same Zavatskaya in a duet with Nadezhda Kichenok brought triumph to the blue-yellows, defeating Kraus and Tamira Pashek.

The victory over Austria allowed Ukraine to qualify for the final tournament of the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup. Our team will play the next match in April.