'A good day for us': Ukraine defeats Romania in first two Billie Jean King Cup matches

FERNANDINA BEACH | Elina Svitolina needed only seven words to describe her first encounter with Northeast Florida tennis.

"It was a good day for us," she said.

Was it ever.

A home team more than 5,000 miles from home, Ukraine didn't let the distance or the wind drive them off course, taking the first two matches from Romania in Friday's opening singles of the Billie Jean King Cup women's tennis tournament at Racquet Park inside the Omni Amelia Island complex.

For the Ukrainians, forced to play their home matches on the road because of Russia's invasion, Friday was a display of grit in the face of determined Romanian opposition and swirling, unpredictable gusts across the green-clay courts off the Atlantic Coast.

After the singles wins for Lesia Tsurenko and Svitolina, Ukraine need only win one of Saturday's three scheduled matches — two singles and one doubles — to punch their tickets for November's eight-team finals in Spain for the sport's premier international competition.

A tall task remains for the Romanians, but captain Horia Tecau isn't losing heart.

"I believe we can come back stronger tomorrow, change this and bring this to a deciding match," he said.

SINGLES MATCH ONE: TSURENKO SEIZES COMMAND

No four-hour marathon this time.

Tsurenko found a devastating rhythm midway through the second set, powering Ana Bogdan of Romania 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the opening match.

One year after the two played a record-breaking tiebreaker at Wimbledon, a match that dragged on for some four hours in London, Tsurenko needed only about half the time to pull away for the victory as Bogdan sputtered down the stretch.

With Bogdan appearing to fade in the third set, Tsurenko cruised to the finish, winning her last seven games to notch the Ukrainians' first point.

Stat of the match: What service advantage? The two combined to break in seven consecutive games in the opening set.

Game of the match: The fourth game of the second set, and it was a battle. Up 2-1 in the set, Tsurenko clawed back from a 15-40 hole to seize a two-game edge.

Point of the match: Up 3-1 in the second set but trailing 0-40 to Bogdan, Tsurenko responded with five consecutive points, the last a punishing backhand to the far corner that swung the momentum.

They said it: "The beginning of the match, I was not really playing my game and I was doing a lot of mistakes. But then, I just stayed positive inside. I was telling good things to myself and I was not getting any negative thoughts about myself. So that was the key." — Tsurenko

SINGLES MATCH TWO: SVITOLINA LEADS UKRAINE AGAIN

The score showed Svitolina as a straight-sets victor over Romania's Jaqueline Cristian, 6-3, 7-5, but the reality was far from routine.

Cristian, coming off a quarterfinal run at last week's Charleston Open to vault into the world top 75, showed off her considerable power and made the former WTA Finals champion fight all the way.

Svitolina, Ukraine's No. 1 player and a former world No. 3, needed to pull everything out of the toolbox — drop shots, lobs and the like — to outlast Cristian in the second set.

"She tried to fight each point, every time," Ukraine captain Mikhail Filima said.

Stat of the match: Cristian created numerous break point opportunities but struggled to put them away, going 23% on break points.

Game of the match: Cristian looked like moving in front in the seventh game of the second set, which was knotted 3-3 before the Romanian grabbed a 15-40 advantage. But Svitolina dug deep to claw back to deuce and then sealed the game with a pinpoint backhand winner.

Point of the match: Svitolina saved her best for last. With match point and Cristian serving down 30-40, Svitolina unleashed a vigorous return to clinch the victory.

They said it: "I handled my nerves quite good. I was playing well on the important points, and I think that's why I got to win today." — Svitolina