The German Fed Cup team has its back to the wall after the first day of the semi-final against the Czech Republic. Angelique Kerber lost the new edition of the US Open final 5:7, 3:6 against Karolina Pliskova. Previously, Germany’s number one Julia Görges had lost 3:6, 2:6 in a duel with Petra Kvitova. A DTB team had never been able to catch up 2-0.
By Ulrike Weinrich from Stuttgart
First he sat there without his jacket, then Boris Becker put on his black-red-gold team jacket. But in the end, the Head of Men’s Tennis could not slip into the role of lucky charm. Becker had taken a seat in the third team box next to Barbara Rittner, his female counterpart, and was visibly feverish in both games. The three-time Wimbledon winner bent forward for the third time, but on the first day, unfortunately, there was no sense of achievement.
Although Kerber met Pliskova, sixth in the world rankings, at eye level for a long time, he was constantly lagging behind. In the final stages of the sets, “Angie” took a break despite her untiring fight. Both showed a good game with several high-class rallies, but in the end the 1.86 meter tall Pliskova dominated also thanks to her strong serve.
After 1:23 hours the Czech number one turned her third match point. Kerber had lost her 2-4 serve in the second set, but she failed to break this afternoon in comparison with two former world number one players. It was Kerber’s first game on clay this season. And the 30-year-old indicated that she could also show strong performances on the red ash.
Görges had previously had to acknowledge Kvitova’s superiority: “I have to say that my opponent played damn well. She didn’t give me time to build my game. I always had the feeling that I was in trouble,” said the woman from Regensburg after the clear defeat.
Görges had a promising start. The atmosphere in the Porsche Arena, which was sold out with 4500 spectators, was good right from the start. In addition to the home audience, hundreds of Czech fans made a lot of noise. However, the guests did not have much to celebrate at first. Görges started highly concentrated, used her second break point at 1:1 and led 3:1 shortly afterwards.
There were hardly any extra-long rallies at first, both players initially benefited from their serve. However, the service subsequently failed Görges several times, while Kvitova also became safer and safer from the baseline. The two-time Wimbledon winner took the break back with a forehand return winner. It was the turning point…
The spectators stood like a wall behind Auckland’s winner Görges, who recently made her first leap into the top ten. At 3-4, she lost her serve again when a backhand from her landed in the out. After 32 minutes, Kvitova, who had only returned to the tour last spring after a nasty knife rat attack in December 2016, won the first round with a service winner.
After the false start team boss Jens Gerlach talked into Görges during the change of sides. The 44-year-old, Rittner’s successor as captain, made his home debut in his native town. Gerlach had done a great job in his surprising 3-2 win in the quarter-final against hosts Belarus in Minsk in February. At that time, the two top players Kerber and Görges were missing.
Görges went into the second set with a 1-0 lead, but then the 29-year-old had to relinquish her service twice and could no longer find the red thread. Left-hander Kvitova, who had taken part in five of the ten Czech title winners, was no longer weak in the end and varied her game. With a forehand winning stroke, she used her first match point after exactly one hour. Görges left the Centre Court disappointingly. It was their fifth defeat in the sixth duel with Kvitova.