Billie Jean King Cup got underway yesterday. Alison Riske, World No. 43 is currently at Harrah’s Cherokee Center, Asheville, representing the US at the Billie Jean King Cup. The 3rd seeded American team is playing their qualifier tie against Ukraine.

The two-day tie began yesterday, with the teams playing their first round of singles matches. The US won both of their singles matches. While Jesica Pegula breezed past Katarina Zavatska, the contest between Alison Riske and Dayana Yastremska stole the limelight. Going toe-to-toe against each other in the opening set, both the women indulged in some high-quality hitting, pushing the set to a tiebreaker.

In the tiebreak, both the players refused to yield and played an absorbing brand of tennis. Eventually, Riske won the tie-break 18-16 to win the first set. She further went on to win the second set 7-5. Following her win, Riske expressed her thoughts about the marathon tiebreak.

Alison Riske on winning the tiebreaker 18-16

Post the match, the 31-year-old American understood that it was the second-longest tiebreaker in the history of the cup. Even though it could have been a reason to rejoice, Alison opted to take it in a competitive spirit. Post the match, she jokingly said, “I’m just really offended that wasn’t the No. 1 longest tiebreaker in history!”

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Revealing her feelings while playing the tie-breaker, she further confessed, “I was thinking as I was playing it that ‘this has to be something’ because it was really special.”

Going through the record books, the longest ever tiebreaker played in the history of the cup dates back to 2004. In 2004, during the India-Uzbekistan tie, the pair of Sania Mirza/Manisha Malhotra won the tiebreaker 21-19 against Vlada Ekshibarova/Ivanna Israilova.

Riske on representing the US at the Cup

Riske first represented the USA in 2014. Eight years down the line, the Pittsburgh-born player this year is making her 5th appearance for her country at the Cup.

Opening up about the importance of being a part of the squad and the importance of winning, Riske said, “Every time I play for Team USA, I want to win. I want to win for my team. It’s always really special for me. I always feel the pressure when I’m playing here. I’m just grateful to the fans who are here for Team USA.”

“Pretty much everyone on this team I have known since I was 12 years old, so it’s really amazing to share this experience with them and to have their support – it’s just the best,” she further added.

USA and Ukraine will play the day two of the tie today. The first match of Day 2 will feature Jessica Pegula taking on Dayana Yastremska, while the second match will witness Alison Riske taking on Katarina Zavatska if needed. After gaining a 2-0 lead yesterday, team US is just hoping for one more win to book a spot in Billie Jean King Cup Finals.