ÖTV: ITF Sharm El Sheikh: Kostic with a successful rehearsal for the Billie Jean King Cup

Tamara Kostic played in the week leading up to her debut for the Austria Women’s National Team at the Billie Jean King Cup on 11/12. November showed strong form against Mexico in Multiversum Schwechat. The 17-year-old gave a taste of her talent once again at the ITF W15 Hard Court Championships in Sharm El Sheikh by reaching the singles semi-finals and doubles final.

In singles, Kostic first defeated Czech Nicole Benesova (WTA 1244) 6:1, 6:1, then defeated Dutchwoman Sarah van Emst (WTA 1244) 6:3, 2:6, 6:1, and finally also in singles. Singles. 16-year-old Russian Vlada Mencheva (WTA-), No. 24 in the World Youth Rankings, 6:1, 7:5. Only in the fight for the final did the fifth seed Vienna (WTA 827) lose to the Russian Ekaterina Shalimova, the third seed (WTA 657), 1: 6, 5: 7. Kostic had the opportunity to impose a third set at 5:4 and on his serve, as well as three break points. Serving at 5:5 and 0:40.

In doubles she formed a successful team with her singles victory over Alexandra Shubladze. Kostic and the Russian defeated fourth seeds Arina Solomatina (Kyrgyzstan) and Van Emst 6:0, 6:3, then the two took advantage of the non-appearance of Katerina Lazarenko (Ukraine) and Yu Shan (China), before they also qualified. She beat top seed Sandra in the semi-final and eliminated Samir (Egypt) and Shalimova 6:3, 6:4. In the final they eventually lost to Serbian Daria Sovirjunkova and Russian Daria Zelenskaya with a score of 5:7, 6:2, 11:13. Kostic/Shubladze were unable to use a match point at 11:10 in the match tiebreaker. Kostic missed out on her maiden title in the third international women’s doubles final, but still managed to enjoy a convincing tournament week.