Cristina Bucșa lost to Putintseva, then won the doubles 30 minutes later. Spain are in the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2008

Spain are in the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2008. They beat Kazakhstan 2-1 in Shenzhen on Wednesday, and the player who settled it had lost her singles about 30 minutes earlier.

Cristina Bucșa and Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Anna Danilina and Zhibek Kulambayeva 6-2, 7-5 in the deciding doubles. The match lasted two hours and seven minutes, with an 88-minute second set, and the Spaniards saved 18 of the 20 break points they faced. Spain play Czechia on Friday for a place in Sunday's final.

Putintseva levels the tie

Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro gave Spain the lead in the opening rubber, beating Sonja Zhiyenbayeva 6-2, 6-2 in 62 minutes. The world No. 93 did not face a break point, broke four times and won 82 per cent of the points behind her first serve. Zhiyenbayeva, 20 and ranked 384th, was playing only her second match in the competition, having made her debut in Kazakhstan's qualifying win over Canada earlier this year.

Yulia Putintseva then beat Bucșa 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to level the tie. Bucșa, Spain's highest-ranked player in both singles and doubles, had arrived late in Shenzhen after reaching the singles semi-finals and winning the doubles title in Guadalajara last weekend, and Putintseva took the first set in 33 minutes. Bucșa answered Putintseva's drop shots with her own mix of power and touch to force a decider, but ran out of energy in the third. It was Putintseva's 28th win in the competition, equalling Galina Voskoboeva's record for a Kazakh player.

Kazakhstan were without Elena Rybakina, who withdrew before the Finals, and they are still waiting for a first semi-final.

Back on court 30 minutes later

Bucșa returned for the doubles about half an hour after her singles defeat. Spain had been relying on the Moldova-born 28-year-old to play twice, and she did not let them down. She and Sorribes Tormo, who won Olympic bronze together in Paris in 2024, took the first set 6-2. The second ran to almost an hour and a half. Kazakhstan kept earning break points, and Danilina, a four-time Grand Slam women's doubles finalist, and Kulambayeva converted only two of their 20 across the match.

"I try to give my last drop of energy," Bucșa told Spain's post-match press conference, according to Tennis TourTalk. She said the crowd and her teammates had carried her through the doubles.

I'm really proud of all of them. But the competition doesn't end here.

Carla Suárez Navarro, Spain's captain, after the tie

Spain have qualified for every Finals since the current format began in 2021, and this is the first time they have gone past the quarter-finals. They won the competition five times in the 1990s and last reached the final in 2008. Their only previous meeting with Kazakhstan, at the 2022 Finals in Glasgow, ended 3-0.

Czechia on Friday

Czechia, chasing a 12th title, beat Great Britain 2-0 on Tuesday with Linda Nosková and Marie Bouzková winning the singles. The other two quarter-finals are on Thursday: Italy, the two-time defending champions, face China, and Ukraine play Belgium.