Lucia Bronzetti got four-time Billie Jean King Cup champions Italy off to a winning start in Monday's semifinals against Poland with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win over Magda Linette in Malaga. 

Italy, the 2023 runners-up, is bidding to reach the Billie Jean King Cup Finals title tie for the second straight year, and rode a 1 hour, 47-minute upset victory for World No.78 Bronzetti over No.38 Linette. The Italian had won just three games the last time she faced off against Linette -- in the United Cup last year -- but led for almost the entire duration of Monday's match. From 3-3 in the first set, Bronzetti won seven of the next nine games -- but eventually needed to fight through a surge by the Pole late in the second set.

From 4-1 behind, Linette won four straight games, and was twice was a game away from forcing a third set, before Bronzetti squeaked out the win in a tiebreak. 

The 26-year-old Bronzetti, in her seventh BJK Cup nomination, picked up her first singles win for Il Tricolore with her Linette was playing for the first time in three days after defeating Sara Sorribes Tormo in a 3-hour, 51-minute marathon in Poland's 2-0 win over Spain in the first round. 

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The tie's second singles match will see a clash between two Top 10 players in the PIF WTA Rankings, as World No.2 Iga Swiatek hopes to force a deciding doubles match when she faces World No.4 Jasmine Paolini. 

More to come...