Sloane Stephens Drops Opener. FED CUP TENNIS: The United States & France Are Tied , 1-1

Written by: Staff on 19th April 2014

Sloane Stephens Drops Opener. FED CUP TENNIS: The United States & France Are Tied , 1-1

epa04083041 Sloane Stephens of the USA returns the ball to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during their first round match of of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis WTA Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 17 February 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

United States vs. France

Fed Cup by BNP Paribas

2014 World Group Playoff

Chaifetz Arena

St. Louis, Mo. * April 19-20

Below are preview notes for Day 2 of the U.S. vs. France Fed Cup tie.

TRANSCRIPTS CAN BE FOUND AT THE LINKS BELOW:

Sloane Stephens; Madison Keys and Captain Mary Joe Fernandez

Caroline Garcia; Alize Cornet and Captain Amelie Mauresmo

THE UNITED STATES AND FRANCE ARE TIED, 1-1

Entering Day 2, the United States and France are tied, 1-1, in the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Playoff played at Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis University.

The U.S. is 9-5 when the tie is at 1-1 after the first day of play (since the World Group format was instituted in 1995). The U.S. is 37-5 all-time in Fed Cup ties played at home.

In the first singles match of the day, France’s Caroline Garcia won in her Fed Cup singles debut, defeating world No. 17 Sloane Stephens, 6-3, 6-2, in one-hour and eight minutes. Garcia came to St. Louis winning her first WTA singles title last weekend in Bogota, Colombia, and also sweeping the doubles title, becoming the first player in nearly two years to pull off a singles-doubles sweep at a WTA-level event. She is ranked a career-high No. 51 in the world. Stephens is now 0-2 in singles in Fed Cup after competing in singles in the 2013 World Group Playoff against Sweden in Delray Beach, Fla., where Stephens lost in three sets to Sofia Arvidsson. Stephens and Garcia had never played each other in WTA competition.

In the second singles match, 19-year-old Madison Keys, ranked No. 42 in the world, won her first-ever Fed Cup singles match, defeating world No. 21 Alize Cornet in an epic, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-3, match that lasted for two hours and 57 minutes. Keys was down 5-3 in the second set before winning the set in a tiebreak and taking command of the third set for the victory. Keys and Cornet had never played each other in WTA competition.

ORDER OF PLAY

DAY/LOCAL TIME MATCH PAIRING

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Singles A: Caroline Garcia (FRA) def. Sloane Stephens (USA), 6-3, 6-2

Singles B: Madison Keys (USA) def. Alize Cornet (FRA), 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-3

Sunday, 1:00 p.m. Singles C: Sloane Stephens (USA) vs. Alize Cornet (FRA)

Singles D: Madison Keys (USA) vs. Caroline Garcia (FRA)

Doubles: Christina McHale / Lauren Davis (USA)

vs. Virginie Razzano / Claire Feuerstein (FRA)

SPECIAL TICKET PROMOTION ON SUNDAY

The USTA will be offering a $10 ticket special for Sunday’s matches. All walk-up tickets at Chaifetz Arena will be $10 for fans to cheer on Team USA.

DAY 2 PREVIEW NOTES

Each country’s top singles players will meet on Sunday – Sloane Stephens (USA) vs. Alize Cornet (FRA) and Madison Keys (USA) vs. Caroline Garcia (FRA) – as well as a doubles match pitting Christina McHale and Lauren Davis (USA) against Virginie Razzano and Claire Feuerstein (FRA).

In Sunday’s first match of the day, Sloane Stephens, the United States’ top-ranked player, will face off against France’s top player Alize Cornet. World No. 17 Stephens and world No. 21 Cornet have only met once, facing off this year at the Hopman Cup (a co-ed team competition) with Stephens winning the match 7-5, 6-0. Stephens is 0-2 in singles play in Fed Cup after losing her singles match to Caroline Garcia today.

The second singles match will feature Madison Keys and Caroline Garcia. Both Keys and Garcia won their first-ever Fed Cup singles matches yesterday. They have not faced each other in WTA competition.

Lauren Davis and Christina McHale are scheduled to take on France’s Virginie Razzano and Claire Feuerstein in Sunday’s doubles match. Davis, who replaced Varvara Lepchenko on the team on Friday after Lepchenko suffered from a calf strain, holds a 10-16 career record in WTA doubles matches and McHale holds a 44-45 career doubles record. Davis and McHale have never paired up for doubles match before and will take on another newly formed doubles team of Razzano and Feuerstein. Razzano is 362-308 in doubles matches for her career, winning one WTA doubles title in Paris in 2001, while her partner Feuerstein holds a 311-233 record in doubles.

The U.S.-France winner will advance to the 2015 World Group and have a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title next year. The loser will be relegated to World Group II. The U.S. has competed in the World Group in 41 of 42 Fed Cup competitions (all but 2012) and is 3-1 in World Group Playoff matches.

WHERE TO WATCH

Tennis Channel will present live daily coverage beginning at 1:00 p.m. CT on Sunday.

ATTENDANCE

Attendance for Saturday’s singles matches at Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis University was 2,149.

FED CUP UPDATE

WORLD GROUP SEMIFINALS

Czech Republic leads Italy, 2-0

Germany leads Australia, 2-0

WORLD GROUP PLAYOFFS

United States is tied with France, 1-1

Canada leads Slovak Republic, 2-0

Russia leads Argentina, 2-0

Spain is tied with Poland, 1-1

Topics: BNP Paribas World Group, Fed Cup, Sloane Stephens, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

April 19, 2014 at 10:21 pm

Sloane Stephens Drops Opener. FED CUP TENNIS: The United States & France Are Tied , 1-1 – http://t.co/qYxSwE4YWN @sloanetweets @FedCup