By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, September 26, 2026
Photo credit: Billie Jean King Cup/World Tennis
Playing for her nation’s first Billie Jean King Cup final, Elina Svitolina was in no mood to play the waiting game.
Svitolina swept Italian No. 1 Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2, sealing Ukraine’s 2-0 victory over Italy and its first trip to the Billie Jean King Cup finals.
Anhelina Kalinina staked Ukraine to a 1-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 149th-ranked Tyra Caterina Grant to set the stage for Svitolina’s semifinal-clinching heroics.
Winless in five prior ties vs. Italy, Ukraine dethroned the two-time defending champions snapping Italy’s eight-match Billie Jean King Cup winning streak.
Ukraine has now won seven of its last eight Billie Jean King Cup ties with its lone loss in that span coming to Tathiana Garbin’s Italian squad in the 2025 semifinals.
Captain Illya Marchenko has guided Ukraine to its maiden BJK Cup final as it become the 18th nation to reach the final and third first-time finalist since the introduction of the Billie Jean King Cup finals in 2021.
Ukraine will face No. 2-seeded Czechia in tomorrow’s final.
Eleven-time champion Czechia has not lost a match this week, defeating Spain, 2-0, in the semifinals after sweeping Great Britain, 2-0, in the quarterfinals. Wimbledon winner Linda Noskova is undefeated in BJK Cup play this season.
Today, a sharp Svitolina converted five of seven break points scoring her 20th career Billie Jean King Cup singles victory.
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