SEVILLE, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic routed defending Billie Jean King Cup champions Switzerland in the opening tie in the finals of the tournament in the Spanish city of Seville on Tuesday night.

The Czechs won the two singles matches to take an unassailable lead in the best-of-three tie, with Linda Noskova claiming a three-set thriller, 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4, in two and a half hours against Celine Naef.

Marie Bouzkova secured the second singles for the Czechs 6-4, 6-4 against Viktorija Golubic, rendering the result of the doubles match irrelevant.

Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova sealed the win as they dispatched Golubic and Jil Teichmann 7-6 6-2 in the doubles.

Slovenia opened the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup in the Spanish city of Seville with a 2-1 win against 2022 runners-up Australia.

Kaja Juvan won 6-4, 6-1 against Ajla Tomljanovic in the opening match, while Tamara Zidansek defeated Daria Saville to put Slovenia 2-0 ahead.

The Slovenian singles players capitalized on the rankings of Tomljanovic and Saville, who are 549th and 206th in the world, respectively, while Juvan was a semifinalist at the 2021 French Open, and Zidansek arrived in Spain in great form after six wins in her last eight matches in the Billie Jean King Cup.

With the tie already decided, the Australians rallied to claim the doubles, with Kimberly Birrell and Storm Hunter beating Veronika Erjavec and debutant Ela Milic 7-5, 6-7(7), 10-5.

On Thursday, hosts Spain will play against Canada, while France will face Italy. Enditem

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