The Croatia women’s tennis team secured another win in the Euro-African group of the Fed Cup held in Bath. After starting with a 2:1 win against Turkey, Croatia was better than Georgia. They will play for first place in Group B against Serbia on Friday, reports HRT on February 7, 2019.
The winner of this clash will meet the best team from Group A on Saturday and will be better placed in April qualifiers for World Group II.
Croatia lead on Thursday thanks to Ana Konjuh who overcame Mariam Bolkvadze 6:4, 6:3.
“It was harder than I expected, but at least my confidence has risen. She was not an easy rival, but I managed to find a solution. My hand is fine, that’s also important,” Ana Konjuh said.
Jana Fett was unable to win against Ekaterina Gorgodze. In the third set, Fett had the advantage to break four times, with 5-4 serving for victory, but in the end, Gorgodze was more successful 4:6, 6:3, 7:5.
“The only thing that was good was the fight. I played poorly, and I could not feel the service and I think that was it,” Fett said.
The deciding point for the Croatia national team was made by Darija Jurak and Ana Konjuh, who defeated Ekaterina Gorgodze and Oksana Kalashnikova 7:5, 6:1.
“We are good together, we needed to find a rhythm, but we found it. We did not play together long enough, but we did well,” said Darija Jurak after the win, while coach Iva Majoli added: “We decided that Donna needed to rest, so she did not play because she was exhausted after the tournament in St. Petersburg and the match against Turkey. We were hoping that we would win after the individual matches, but that did not happen. Anyway, we really believed in the doubles, because Darija and Ana were always great in the Fed Cup,” Majoli said.
In the second match of this group Serbia secured a win against Turkey (2:0). Ivana Jorović overcame Çağla Büyükakçay 6:2, 6:3, while Aleksandra Krunić was better than Pemra Ozgen 3:6, 6:4, 6:2.
Serbia and Croatia are on the ladder with two wins, while Georgia and Turkey have two defeats. Croatia will play against Serbia on Friday.
Only the first-place teams from the group stage will have the opportunity to compete for a place in World Group II. The winner of Group B will play against the first-placed team of Group A which holds the UK, Hungary, Greece and Slovenia.
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