Billie Jean King Cup: Austria loses 2-1 to Croatia at the end of the group
In the Billie Jean King Cup, the Austrian women lost 2-1 to favorites Croatia. Relegation in Europe/Africa Zone I had already been secured before that.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Apr 15, 2022, 02:19 pm
Austria ended the group matches in Europe/Africa Zone I in the Billie Jean King Cup with a 1:2 defeat against favorite Croatia. The women around team captain Marion Maruska had already managed to stay up in the previous encounters in Antalya, and victories over the strong nations Slovenia and/or Croatia were missing for a possible promotion.
First, Sinja Kraus suffered a 5:7, 3:6 defeat against Donna Vekic. Against the experienced world number 108. The only 19-year-old native of Vienna left a strong impression, as she did in practically all of her games this week. After that, Julia Grabher had to admit defeat in the clash between the two team leaders 2:6, 4:6 against the current WTA number 60 Petra Martic.
In the already meaningless doubles game, Barbara Haas and Melanie Klaffner benefited from the injury-related resignation of the Croatian pairing Petra Marcinko and Tara Wurth with a score of 5: 7, 0: 0. Austria thus finishes Group B in third position and will play the third-placed team from Group A, hosts Turkey, in a placement game tomorrow Saturday from 9:00 a.m. CEST.