France’s comeback from 2-0 down to beat host Italy 3-2 was the highlight of Sunday’s first-round play in the Fed Cup, with Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic also advancing to the semi-finals.
Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic stunned Italy by first winning their respective singles matches before teaming up to rout top-ranked doubles pair Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, 6-1, 6-2 to complete the comeback.
“I’m so proud of the girls,” France captain Amelie Mauresmo said. “They ... put some amazing stuff out there on the court.”
Photo: AFP
Mauresmo surprisingly benched French No. 1 Alize Cornet for the opening reverse singles, replacing her with Mladenovic, who beat Errani 6-4, 6-3 to get France back into the series. Garcia then recovered from a set down to defeat Camila Giorgi 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
The other first-round matchups had far less drama.
Russia completed their sweep of Poland, as Maria Sharapova gave them a decisive 3-0 lead with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Agnieszka Radwanska. Vitalia Diatchenko and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova then beat Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Alicja Rosolska 6-4, 6-4 in a meaningless doubles match.
Sharapova showed little sign of weariness this weekend after her tough loss to Serena Williams in the Australian Open final on Jan. 31.
“It is never easy to play after a long journey, new surface and very little training on it,” Sharapova said. “I tried to play my best tennis and I am happy that I won in two sets.”
Germany won both reverse singles to take a winning 3-1 lead over Australia.
Angelique Kerber beat Australian No. 1 Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4 before Andrea Petkovic defeated Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in just under two hours to set up a semi-final against Russia. Germany then also won the doubles match.
The Czech Republic breezed through after Karolina Pliskova earned her second victory in two days, beating Gabriela Dabrowski 6-4, 6-2 to establish a 3-0 lead over hosts Canada, before also winning the doubles.
The Czech Republic beat Germany in last year’s final.
The US could be back in the world group next year after Venus Williams defeated Maria Irigoyen of Argentina 6-1, 6-4 to put the US into the playoffs in April with an unassailable 3-1 lead.
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