The Czech Republic and Belgium took the lead in the first round of their Fed Cup matches with a 1-0 lead. Petra Kvitova and Australian Open semi-finalist Elise Mertens won their individual matches on Saturday.
Two matches – two favourite wins. though in completely different ways. While Elise Mertens won the Fed Cup match between Belgium and Pauline Parmentier in two sets, Petra Kvitova had more serious problems with Viktorija Golubic, especially in the second set, which she won in the Swiss team. In the end, however, the two-time Wimbledon winner won in Prague 6-2,1-6 and 6-3.
In 2018, the Czech women will be able to draw on their full potential again: In addition to Kvitova, Barbora Strycova, Lucie Safarova and Karolina Pliskova are also in Petr Pala’s line-up, who decided in favour of Strycova as the second single player against Belinda Bencic.
In contrast, Yannick Noah, head of the French women’s team, has to improvise at the home game in Mouilleron le Captif. After Caroline Garcia, the country’s number one national team player, continues to put her career on ice, Kristina Mladenovic remains a top player. Petersburg reached the final. There, however, she was inferior to Petra Kvitova.