Czech Republic reaches Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals

Then, Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, ranked 6th globally, sealed her country's qualification by defeating Katie Boulter, ranked 54th, 6-2 and 7-6 (7-3), eliminating the need to play the doubles match.

The Czech Republic, considered the top favorite to win the title with four players in the world's top 30 alongside the world number one in doubles, Katerina Siniakova, will face Spain or Kazakhstan in the semi-finals on Friday. Kazakhstan is missing world number one Elena Rybakina following her last-minute withdrawal.

Bouzkova was chosen over world number 8 Karolina Muchova to play the first singles match, and she needed nearly three hours to overcome Kartal, who was playing her first official match since suffering a stress fracture in her back in March.

The Czech player lost her serve at the beginning of the first two sets and also fell behind by a break in the deciding set, which allowed Kartal to lead 2-1, but she kept her composure, immediately broke back, and then won four consecutive games to lead 5-2.

While it seemed she was on her way to clinching the match, Bouzkova missed three match points on her opponent's serve.

Kartal took advantage of that to recover from the break, narrowing the gap to 4-5, but she suddenly collapsed and lost the next game to love, and consequently the match.

The winner said in the press conference, "It was a big battle," adding in reference to Kartal, "To play at this level after a six-month absence... she deserves all my respect."

Thanks to the power of her serve and a shaky start from Boulter, Noskova achieved the win much faster than Bouzkova (one hour and 39 minutes).

The Czech Republic ranks second in terms of the countries that have won this competition the most (11, but five of them were under the name Czechoslovakia), behind the United States, which holds 18 titles.

On the other hand, Britain has never won the title, but it has reached the semi-finals in three of the last four editions.