Wozniacki retires

Wozniacki retires, Kraus puts ÖTV in the lead

Sinja Kraus(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Austria's tennis women have defeated Denmark on the first day of the Europe-Africa Zone I tournament in the Billie Jean King Cup. After Sinja Kraus won against Caroline Wozniacki on Monday in Oeiras, Portugal, after the former world number one retired, Julia Grabher lost to Clara Tauson. In the decisive doubles match, the ÖTV duo Kraus/Melanie Klaffner came out on top.

In the first match, Kraus surprisingly defeated Wozniacki 6:0,1:0. The Dane - currently 118th in the WTA rankings - retired due to illness. "I tried to concentrate on my game and that worked wonderfully. It's really special to play against a player like that and win," said Kraus. Wozniacki said she had vomited at the start of the match. "I was dizzy and I couldn't see the balls properly," she said.

In the following match, Grabher had no chance against Tauson, the Austrian number one lost 2:6, 3:6 to the Danish player. "I'm not happy with my performance at all. I wasn't playing well from the start and made too many mistakes," explained the player from Vorarlberg.

Austria's doubles won
In the final doubles match, Kraus and Melanie Klaffner defeated the Danish duo Rebecca Munk Mortensen and Johanne Christine Svendsen 6:3, 7:5 to secure victory for the Austrians.

The ÖTV team will now face Hungary and Bulgaria in Group A. After the three matches in one of the three groups of four, the tournament continues in four groups of three. The three first-placed teams have already secured promotion to the play-off for the qualifying round for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals 2025, while the three second-placed teams have another ticket to do so.