The Russian national tennis team confidently beat the Swiss team in the final of the Billie Jean King Cup and for the first time since 2008 won the trophy formerly known as the Fed Cup.

First, Daria Kasatkina defeated Gil Teikhman in 79 minutes (6: 2, 6: 4), and then Lyudmila Samsonova defeated Olympic champion Belinda Benchich in a bitter struggle (3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4), thanks to which the Russians and became champions of the competition.

Initially, instead of Samsonova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was supposed to go to court, but the coaching staff made a change literally 20 minutes before the start of the game, as the 12th racket of the world felt discomfort in the knee.

According to Anastasia, the injury tormented her throughout the tournament and she did not want to let the team down in the decisive match.

Nevertheless, this move caused dissatisfaction on the part of the Swiss, because instead of the first number, the Russian national team formally put forward the fifth racket of the team.

At the same time, if Kasatkina and Samsonova were initially announced for the confrontation, Benchich would have played with Daria as the first number.

However, the replacement of Pavlyuchenkova became sudden, which is why any tennis player could go to the court instead.

Moreover, Samsonova was an inconvenient rival for the Olympic champion in Tokyo - before that, Belinda was twice inferior to a 22-year-old native of Olenegorsk in head-to-head matches and could never defeat her.

Although it would seem that Ludmila, who is ranked 40 in the WTA rankings, should be the clear underdog in this confrontation.

As a result, after another defeat, Benchich called the replacement before the meeting an ugly act on the part of the opponent and stressed that good would win in the future, and Switzerland would definitely win the title.

She was also supported by the captain of the "Alps" Hans Gunthardt.

“Everything turned out a little differently than we expected, because 15 minutes before the start of the match we were told that they changed the player with the first number to the fourth.

I don't want to speculate.

Some may call it a cunning move, but it is impossible to reveal the truth right now.

Either Pavlyuchenkova was really injured, and this is sad, or they did it on purpose, which would be a scam, ”Tennis Majors quoted Gunthardt as saying.

At the same time, the two-time champion of the Grand Slam tournaments considers the victory of the Russians deserved, although, according to him, the rearrangements before the match confused Switzerland, since Benchich was systematically preparing for a completely different opponent.

Teikhman, who lost to Kasatkina, in turn, also noted the excellent play of her opponents and added that she was upset about the conversations associated with tennis itself after the match.

The former third racket of the world, Pam Shriver, also criticized the national team and said that in the place of the Swiss team she would protest the result of the game.

"Russia acted dishonestly today, changing the composition ... It looks like a deliberate manipulation, which, due to the rating and the rules, could not be allowed," Shriver wrote on Twitter.

The reaction from the Russian side to the accusations was not long in coming.

The captain of the national team Igor Andreev emphasized that all questions about the rules should be forwarded to the judges.

Moreover, on the first day of the tournament, Canada did exactly the same rearrangements shortly before the matches, he noted.

“There was nothing like that.

Nastya did not feel well, her chronic trauma worsened, she had to be replaced.

We lost the first tennis player.

This is a sport, anything can happen - misfortune, injury and a player cannot perform.

I don’t understand what kind of scam we are talking about.

The athlete fought for his place in the final and that's how it turned out, ”Andreev said.

RTF win their fifth Billie Jean King Cup title, and their first since 2⃣0⃣0⃣8⃣ 🎉🎉



Take a look at how it all unfolded ... # BJKCupFinalspic.twitter.com/XoVJWSordc

- Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) November 6, 2021

Pavlyuchenkova herself said that in sports it is necessary to be able to lose with respect to the opponent.

Moreover, during the warm-up before the final, she could not even serve because of pain.

This was confirmed by her teammate Veronika Kudermetova, according to whom Anastasia really wanted to play with Benchich, but her knee hurt during the warm-up, which is why she had to enter Samsonova's court.

RTF President Shamil Tarpishchev reacted more sharply to criticism of the national team.

According to him, Shriver has long been far from tennis and does not know modern rules, and other people's successes do not give her rest.

“Let him first read the rules of the competition, and then make such statements.

The rules were approved 10 years ago.

I am watching closely for any changes.

The replacement that we made is in full compliance with the regulations.

What questions can be now if we were allowed to perform and we changed the line-up?

Everything is according to the rules.

And others do it too.

Switzerland national team including.

What kind of manipulations?

This is the art and tactics of a coach.

There has never been any violation of the rules, ”the head of the federation was indignant.

Honored coach of Russia Vladimir Kamelzon noted that domestic athletes went to victory in an honest way.

According to the expert, all controversial issues should be decided by the panel of judges.

If the referees did not find any violations, then everything was fair.

“I have had a lot of team competitions, but this is the first time I have heard about such a situation in a match with Switzerland ... This is not the first time we have won this tournament, and accusing the winners of cheating is something dirty, or they are just idiots.

In my practice, there were such emergency replacements.

Tennis is a game, maybe we did the right thing.

The most common game situation.

They always put the strongest against you, ”the coach emphasized.

At the same time, the legendary tennis player Billie Jean King, after whom the tournament was named, did not comment on the replacement before the decisive match and simply congratulated Russia on its success.

“The Russian national team won their fifth Billie Jean King Cup.

What an outstanding week for this team! ”- wrote the 77-year-old American.