Ukraine's top-ranked player Elina Svitolina failed to secure an early victory for the national team in the Billie Jean King Cup quarter-final clash against Belgium. The match turned out to be dramatic: the Ukrainian spent more than two hours on court, won the opening set, but ultimately lost to Belgian player Greet Minnen, who ranks 217th in the WTA world rankings. For both tennis players, this encounter marked their first meeting in their careers.
Match progression: from Minnen's surge to the tiebreak
The Belgian started the first set aggressively and quickly raced to a 3:0 lead, but Svitolina gradually closed the gap, leveled the score, and took the lead — 5:4. Minnen managed to push the set to a tiebreak, but in the decisive series the Ukrainian proved stronger, taking the set 7:6. Thus, the Ukrainian team had a real chance to wrap up the tie in their favor after just two singles matches.
Second and third sets: the Belgian's comeback
In the second set, Minnen again broke first and led 2:0. The rivals then traded games, but the Belgian held her advantage and closed out the set in her favor — 6:4. In the deciding set, the players traded blows for a long time: after the score reached 4:4, Minnen won two games in a row and sealed the set 6:4, and the match — 6:7, 6:4, 6:4 in her favor.
The doubles match will decide the path forward
After Svitolina's defeat, the score in the Ukraine–Belgium tie became level — 1:1, since Angelina Kalinina had earlier won her singles match. Due to the top seed's loss, the Ukrainian team was unable to close out the tie early. Now the fate of the spot in the next stage will be decided in the crucial doubles match, in which Lyudmyla Kichenok and Angelina Kalinina are expected to take to the court for the Ukrainian team.
Contradictory data
The provided sources contain a minor discrepancy in the assessment of the match's duration. The main account of the event states that Svitolina spent "more than two hours" on court, whereas the headline of one sports outlet describes the encounter as a "nearly three-hour match." Both versions agree on the main point — the high duration and intensity of the contest — however, the exact timing is not reported consistently across the materials.
Tournament context
In parallel, at the quarter-final stage of the Billie Jean King Cup, the Czech Republic became the first team to reach the semi-finals, defeating Great Britain. Thus, the fight for a place in the semi-finals in the Ukraine–Belgium pairing gains additional intensity against the backdrop of already determined opponents in the other half of the draw.
