Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk secured Ukraine’s place in the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals for the first time with victory over Spain.World number 13 Svitolina held off Paula Badosa to win 5-7 6-2 7-5 and give Ukraine an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three tie.Svitolina had been 4-1 up in the third set before former world number two Badosa rallied.Badosa had a break point at 5-5 in the deciding set which, had she converted, would have left her serving for the match.However, Svitolina held her off and broke serve in the next game to secure victory.Kostyuk earlier got Ukraine off to a winning start with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in Shenzhen, China.
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BJK Cup: Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk help Ukraine beat Spain to reach semi-finals for first time
