Women Tennis News Update – Fed Cup

Written by: Staff on 10th February 2013

Women Tennis News Update - Fed Cup

epa03577059 Elena Vesnina (R) and Ekaterina Makarova (L) of Russia in action against Ayumi Morita and Misaki Doi of Japan during their Fed Cup World Group first round tennis match in Moscow, Russia, 10 February 2013. EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY |

Fed Cup

This seemed to be the tie where Russia was utterly jinxed. First they had to play without a lot of their top players (Maria Sharapova, Nadia Petrova, etc.) Then they lost Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the last moment. Then Maria Kirilenko struggled through her first match — so much so that she wouldn’t even play the reverse singles. Then Ayumi Morita stunned Ekaterina Makarova.

And then, on Sunday, Morita did it again, shocking Elena Vesnina (who replaced Kirilenko) 6-4 6-1. Russia, which should have won in three matches, instead was down 2-1.

At least Makarova redeemed herself with a 6-1 6-1 win over Kimiko Date-Krumm (who said afterward that she had a heel injury and almost didn’t play), meaning that the doubles would decide. Which raised the interesting question of which players would play the doubles.

As was to be expected if the tie was live, the Russians turned to Makarova/Vesnina. After all, the two are regular partners — and one of the world’s top teams. The Japanese went with Morita and Misaki Doi. Morita finally lose a match as Vesnina got her revenge; the Russians won 6-2 6-2. But they must be desperate to get more of their team back for the next round….

The Czechs had a much easier time. Match #3 was a nailbiter — Petra Kvitova had to save a match point — but Samantha Stosur clearly is still trying to find her form. Kvitova beat her 2-6 7-6 6-4, allowing the Czechs to clinch. They didn’t play the other singles match, and the Czech team of Hlavackova/Hradecka beat Barty/Dellacqua 6-0 7-6 to make it a 4-0 sweep.

Despite the Czech success, this seemed to be the weekend when almost everything in Fed Cup went against expectations. Starting with the fact that the United States had emerged with a 1-1 split on day one. They went on to post an even bigger surprise: American Varvara Lepchenko stunned Italy’s #1 Sara Errani 7-5 6-2. Roberta Vinci, however, made up for her stumble of the day before by beating Jamie Hampton 6-2 4-6 6-1 to level the tie. That again meant decision time: Who would play the doubles? The Italians had listed Burnett/Knapp — but that probably was based on expecting to have won by then! Errani/Vinci are the world’s top team — but Vinci had already played six sets in two days…. The Americans obviously would play Liezel Huber, but would they stay with Melanie Oudin as her partner, or would they substitute?

They substituted. Huber played with Lepchenko — and, yes, the Italians went with Errani/Vinci. In other words, two doubles experts against one. Tired as they were, the Italians were more than a match for Huber/Lepchenko, winning 6-2 6-2 to put Italy in the semifinal.

The Slovaks on day two found themselves without Dominika Cibulkova — but it almost didn’t matter; Jana Cepelova proved a more than adequate substitute. She beat Bojana Jovanovski — who simply didn’t play her best in this tie — 5-7 7-5 11-9. That gave Daniela Hantuchova the chance to clinch against Vesna Dolonc. And she did, 6-3 6-2. The Slovaks didn’t even bother to contest the doubles. They will face Russia in the semifinal.

In World Group II, the Belgians seemed to be falling apart. It is perhaps not a tremendous surprise that Swiss import Romina Oprandi beat Yanina Wickmayer on clay (although the 6-2 6-2 score was pretty stunning). The really bad news for Belgium came when Kirsten Flipkens didn’t play. That forced Alison Van Uytvanck into the #2 singles role — and she lost 6-2 7-6 to Stefanie Voegele. A Swiss team that had seemed doomed is instead on its way up. Of course, they’re likely to be in trouble in the next round…. The final score was 4-1; the tie ended when the Swiss team of Bacsinszky/Sadikovic beat Bonaventure/Van Uytvanck 6-4 6-4.

Strangely, both sides in the Spain/Ukraine contest substituted in the third match. Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor took the place of Spanish #1 Lourdes Dominguez-Lino — and beat Yulia Beygelzimer (substituting for Lesia Tsurenko) 6-4 6-2. That gave the Spanish a 3-0 lead; they didn’t bother with the second reverse singles. Beygelzimer and Olga Savchuk beat Nuria Llagostera-Vives and Torro-Flor in the doubles, 6-3 2-6 10-5, but that was trivia.

Germany’s romp over France got even rompier in the third match. At least the first two matches had been relatively close. The third wasn’t; Julia Goerges clinched by beating Pauline Parmentier 6-4 6-2. They skipped the fourth singles, and Alize Cornet and Kristina Mladenovic beat Beck/Groenefeld 6-3 6-4 in the doubles, but Amelia Mauresmo’s opening Fed Cup tie clearly wasn’t much fun….

Sofia Arvidsson didn’t exactly cover herself with glory in the reverse singles against Argentina’s Paula Ormaechea, but at least she picked up a point. Ormaechea retired trailing Arvidsson 7-5 6-7 3-2 in a match that had lasted two hours and 44 minutes. The fear is that Ormaechea suffered a torn ligament. Then it was Johanna Larsson’s turn to atone, and she did, beating Florencia Molinero 6-3 6-2. The Swedes naturally played Arvidsson and Larsson in the doubles; Argentina answered with Irigoyen/Auroux. Finally, the Swedes finished off a from-the-brink match, winning the doubles 6-4 6-4 and the tie 3-2.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Ayumi Morita, Czech tennis news, Fed Cup, Germany tennis news, Japanese tennis news, Maria Kirilenko, Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis news., women tennis news