Victories by Viktoria Hruncakova and Rebecca Sramkova sealed a semifinal spot for Slovakia at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain on Sunday.

The two singles wins gave Slovakia an insurmountable 2-0 lead over seven-time champion Australia in the quarterfinal tie. The Slovaks are into the last four of the prestigious team event for the first time since they won the title in 2002.

Slovakia now awaits the winner of Sunday's second quarterfinal tie between defending champion Canada and four-time finalist Great Britain.

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Hruncakova began the day with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3 win over Kimberly Birrell in two-and-a-half hours. Birrell gritted out the second-set tiebreak to extend the match into a third set, but Hruncakova saved all three of the break points she faced in the decider to prevail.

Birrell held four game points in the four-deuce final game to keep the match going even further, but Hruncakova at last converted her third match point to give Slovakia the 1-0 advantage.

Hruncakova (née Kuzmova) is a former Top 50 player who is currently ranked No.241, and the 26-year-old is having a strong event in Malaga. On Thursday, Hruncakova paired with Tereza Mihalikova to win a decisive doubles match-tiebreak and oust 18-time champion United States.

Sramkova followed up with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Ajla Tomljanovic to send Slovakia soaring into the semifinals. Sramkova needed just over an hour to give Slovakia their best Billie Jean King Cup result in over 20 years.

Sramkova has reinvented her career this autumn. Since the US Open, the 28-year-old has won 19 of her last 23 matches, reached three WTA singles finals, won her maiden WTA title at Hua Hin #2 and has raised her ranking from No.136 to a career-high No.43.

Sramkova brought that stellar form into her first meeting with three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Tomljanovic. In their Sunday clash, Sramkova slammed eight aces, won 79 percent of her first-serve points and converted half of her 10 break points to triumph.

More to come...