Fed Cup: Germany two-up against Australia

Petkovic, Kerber win respective singles in Fed Cup semi-final.

BRISBANE:

Germany took hold of their Fed Cup semi-final on Saturday, winning both the opening day singles to lead Australia 2-0 in Brisbane.

Andrea Petkovic downed Australia’s number one and former US Open champion Samantha Stosur 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) in 101 minutes in the first singles match.

World number seven Angelique Kerber then only dropped one game in disposing of Australia’s number two Casey Dellacqua in just 50 minutes to seize control of the tie.

Germany need only one more victory from Sunday’s two reverse singles and the doubles to reach their first Fed Cup final since 1992, when Steffi Graf and Anke Huber starred in the team which defeated Spain.

“I saw two great matches and I was very proud of the performance of my two girls,” said German captain Barbara Rittner.

“There are still three points to go and tomorrow is a new day. I think the matches were closer than they look.

“It was one of those days when Kerber played a perfect match against Dellacqua.”

Stosur has made it past the third round at only one tournament this year, and again appeared to buckle early under the weight of expectation on a home court.

“I wasn’t overly nervous,” said Stosur. “I thought she [Petkovic] came out hitting the ball very clean and deep — that puts you on the back foot.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2014.

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