Two draws, only the Czech women are leading: The first day of the Fed Cup 2018 had its surprises in store.
Until now, Petr Pala, the Czech Fed Cup captain, has done everything right: On the one hand, he has managed to create a nominally incredibly strong team for the encounter with Switzerland in Prague. Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova, Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova promise sustainable competence on the tennis court. The fact that Pala then prefers Strycova to the only top ten player Pliskova may have been a risk a priori.
The 31-year-old, however, also had the upper hand in her second match with Belinda Bencic, winning 6-2 and 6-4 after 82 minutes. And followed Kvitova’s example, who had problems in the first match of the day against Viktorija Golubic in the second set, but still won the match. The team of the Swiss team boss Heinz Günthardt, to whom Martina Hingis also belongs as a coach, is therefore already in the first meeting on Sunday under pressure.
On the other hand, there is a tie in Minsk and La Roche sur Yon. The German women, who are not able to compete in the best line-up, were able to catch up with last year’s finalists in the person of debutante Antonia Lottner. Lottner defeated the Belarusian number one, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, in two sets.
Kristina Mladenovic, on the other hand, kept the French women in the match against Belgium. Mladenovic withstood the pressure after Pauline Parmentier’s opening defeat, defeated Kirsten Flipkens in two sets.
In the final quarter-finals of the day, the American women’s singles Venus Williams and Coco Vandeweghe will face the Netherlands at home. On Sunday, Serena Williams could make a comeback after a break of more than one year.