Women Tennis Update – Fed Cup Monday, April 22, 2013

Written by: Staff on 21st April 2013

Women Tennis Update - Fed Cup Monday, April 22, 2013

epa03595468 Sara Errani of Italy returns the ball to her compatriot Roberta Vinci during their semi final match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 22 February 2013. Errani won 6-3 and 6-3. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Fed Cup

For a round in which most of the ties were played indoors, weather played an amazing role.

On Sunday, it was Italy’s turn to be hit by rain. It was hours before they took the court — and Sara Errani seemed to arrive a lot earlier than Petra Kvitova, whose latest problem is a shoulder injury; she lost the first five games before getting into things. (It makes you wonder if the Czechs should have played someone else. But with Klara Zakopalova off the team, they really didn’t have anyone else….) And Kvitova did come through after that first set non-appearance: She beat Errani 2-6 6-2 6-0.

To be sure, that still left Italy up 2-1, with Roberta Vinci to face Lucie Safarova, and then the doubles, where the Italians are the overwhelming favorite. But that will have to wait until Monday; the weather and darkness forced them to postpone the remaining two matches.

The tie between Russia and the Slovak Republic turned interesting much more quickly. Maria Kirilenko, who had looked bad on Saturday, came to life on Sunday, beating Dominika Cibulkova 7-5 6-1 to move the score to 2-1 in favor of the Slovaks. And then — the Russians substituted, pulling Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (who was tired and had looked bad) and replacing her with Ekaterina Makarova. Which looked like a good move when Makarova won the first set against Daniela Hantuchova. But then Hantuchova took the second set, and went up a break in the third. That lead didn’t last either. Makarova got the break back, and had two match points on Hantuchova’s serve in the tenth game — and blew both. A Hantuchova error gave Makarova another chance. Still nothing. And… well, we won’t put you through what we went through. Makarova finally won 6-3 4-6 6-4.

Of course, that merely made things level at 2-2. It would come down to the doubles. So who would play? The listed Russian team was Makarova/Vesnina, and that was certainly their best available team — but Makarova had just played two and a half hours of singles! The listed Slovak team was Rybarikova/Cepelova, but that was just a formality. The Russians did go with Makarova/Vesnina — but the Slovaks, more or less as expected, turned to Cibulkova/Hantuchova.

Makarova looked pretty tired in the first set, but she and Vesnina really are a strong team. They — and Russia — bounced back 4-6 6-3 6-1. Now they wait to see which team they will face in the final. Russia will be the visitor in the final no matter who wins the other semifinal.

As expected, Spain was the first nation to clinch a return to World Group I. Carla Suarez Navarro gave them a 3-0 lead by beating Ayumi Morita 6-3 7-5. They didn’t bother with the second singles; Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Anabel Medina Garrigues made it a 4-0 sweep by beating the dejected Japanese team of Shuko Aoyama and Misaki Doi (who played instead of Aoyama/Morita) 6-4 7-5.

Germany and Serbia produced a much more interesting contest. Angelique Kerber struggled again; Ana Ivanovic beat her 7-5 7-5. But Mona Barthel made up for her opening-day loss by beating Bojana Jovanovski 6-1 3-6 6-3. That raised the fascinating question of who would play the doubles. It isn’t a huge surprise that the Germans stuck with their listed team of Groenefeld/Lisicki. The odd part is that Serbia stuck with Dolonc/Krunic. And paid for it. The Germans won the doubles, and hence the tie, 6-2 6-4.

In Saturday’s late match, Serena Williams had beaten Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-2 6-2. Sunday began with Serena taking on Sofia Arvidsson. And producing almost the same scoreline: 6-2 6-1, and the Americans were up 2-1 and had to decide whether to play Sloane Stephens or Venus Williams in the fourth match.

Current needs topped long-term hopes. Venus got the call. It was surprisingly close, and it took what seemed like forever for her to serve it out, but she got the job done, 6-3 7-5. The Americans bailed out on the doubles, so the official score was 3-2, but we all know that story.

The Swiss and Australians haven’t even started yet. A second all-day rain forced the postponement of the whole contest until Monday.

The World Group II playoffs had been marked by the fact that all four ties were level at 1-1 after Saturday’s action. France was first to break out of that. Marion Bartoli made it 2-1 by beating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4 6-3 — and then Kazakhstan substituted Ksenia Pervak for Galina Voskoboeva. It definitely didn’t help. Alize Cornet beat her 6-3 6-1, and France was through. Now they just have to keep Bartoli on the team…. In the meaningless doubles, Garcia/Mladenovic beat Karatancheva/Voskoboeva 6-2 7-5.

Poland was next to advance. Not that there were any surprises there. Kirsten Flipkens had managed to beat Urszula Radwanska the day before, but she couldn’t do anything against big sister Agnieszka, who won 4-6 6-1 6-2. And then Urszula clinched by beating Alison van Uytvanck 6-1 6-4. In the doubles, both teams played their bench players, but the Poles had the stronger bench: Piter/Rosolska beat Bonaventure/Mestach 6-3 4-6 10-7. It does make you wonder, though, what would have happened had Yanina Wickmayer been available — and if Belgium had been willing to pay for a clay surface….

By contrast, the tie between Canada and Ukraine came down to the wire. Eugenie Bouchard made up for her failure the day before by beating Lesia Tsurenko 7-5 6-4 — but Elina Svitolina, the obvious Ukrainian heroine, answered by beating Sharon Fichman 6-4 7-6. That meant that all four tired singles players — Svitolina, Tsurenko, Bouchard, and Fichman — got to play doubles, with the tie obviously on the line. Svitolina couldn’t do it again; the Canadians won 6-4 6-3. Poor Tsurenko comes away having lost three live matches. Makes you wonder if she’ll be the #1 next time Ukraine plays….

The Argentines owe a big debt to clay for keeping them alive. In the third match of their contest, Paula Ormaechea upset Laura Robson 6-4 4-6 6-2. THen things really got interesting. The British had talked about playing Elena Baltacha in reverse singles, but had backed off on Saturday. Sunday, perhaps desperate, they plugged her in. But the Argentines also substituted, bringing in Maria Irigoyen to replace Florencia Molinero. The Argentine switch worked better; Irigoyen beat Baltacha 7-5 3-6 6-1, and Argentina had a 3-1 clinch. They didn’t play the doubles.

©Daily tennis news wire

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