Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova faced off against each other in an all-Czech Wimbledon final in July. But on Sunday, Sept. 27, the stars teamed up to secure the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup title for Czechia in Shenzen, China.
The nation captured its first Billie Jan King Cup title in eight years after Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova
and Muchova reigned victorious in their singles matches to defeat Ukraine, 2-0."It's very special," Muchova said after the win. "A dream of mine to lift the trophy. To do it with these girls sitting here, it's a pleasure. I'm just so proud of us, how we managed the whole week, how we fight... To win it is like a cherry on the top."
Muchova got
the final round started for the Czech women with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina, where Muchova recorded eight total aces, compared to none for Kalinina, to get Czechia its first point. Muchova converted four of five break points in the match, while Kalinia wasn't able to get a break point against Muchova.
"I felt like I could rely on my serve today, on my service games," Muchova said. "I felt more comfortable onthe court than two days ago, more familiar. I came focused to the match. I was just glad to get the first break."
Noskova followed her countrywoman with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Ukraine's Elina Svitolina. Noskova finished with 10 aces in the straight-set win, which took three match points to secure Czechia's win.
"I was not nervous at all before the match, which I thought was kind of weird. Obviously as the match started, I was already getting into the rhythm, so I didn't have time to be nervous. But I just kept telling myself it's a match like every other else. Obviously this one mattered a lot. I was not playing just for myself, but for my country as well," Noskova said. "My match was definitely very tough. At the same time it's always better to go on court when the team is already leading 1-0. So thanks, Karo (Muchova)."
Muchova added with a smile, "You're welcome."Marie Bouzkova was set to team up with Katerina Siniakova, the top-ranked women's double player in the world, for a winner-take-all doubles match, but the tiebreaker wasn't needed.
Czechia last won the Billie Jean King Cup in 2018, a 3-0 win over USA back when the tournament was called the Fed Cup. Czechia has won the second most title (12) behind the Americans (18), who didn't qualify for the finals this year.
Captain Barbora Strycova was a member of the Czechia team that last won the Billie Jean King title nearly a decade ago. She said she feels "very honored" to bring the nation another trophy in a different capacity.
"To win it as a player and now win it as a captain of such an incredible group of players and be sitting there on the bench in the different position... it means so much," Strycova said. "To be honest, it was my dream which I didn't say out loud. But yeah, it happened. It feels, like, surreal but it's very real."
The competition capped a dominant summer for Czechia, which has the most players (10) in the top 100 after the U.S. (16). Look no further than the all-Czech Wimbledon final between Noskova and Karolina Muchova, producing the third Czech champion in four years. Or the US Open, where Muchova won the mixed doubles title, Katerina Siniakova won the women’s doubles titleand Noskova reached the singles quarterfinals.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Czechia tops Ukraine to win first Billie Jean King Cup since 2018
