Fed Cup: Madison Keys Seals Final Entry of Defending Champion USA

Madison Keys has given her Fed Cup team its second successive final. The world rankings 13th scored the decisive third point for the USA in the semi-final in France with a 7:6 (7:4), 6:4 against Pauline Parmentier.

In the final, captain Kathy Rinaldi’s team will face the hosts in the Czech Republic on 10-11 November 2018, who defeated the German team 4-1 in Stuttgart at the weekend. This results in a new edition of last year’s semi-final. The USA had won this match 3:2 against the Czech team in Florida.

The match winner of the US girls was Flushing Meadows Champion Sloane Stephen with two individual wins on the indoor sand court in Aix-en-Provence. After winning 7:6 (7:3), 7:5 against Parmentier on Saturday and celebrating their first Fed Cup victory after a two-year dry spell, the world number nine left an impressive 6:2, 6:0 against Kristina Mladenovic (WTA No. 20) on the second day.

The Austrian Dominic Thiem’s girlfriend convinced Coco Vandeweghe (WTA No. 16) the day before at 1:6, 6:3, 6:2 and provided for a 1:1 equaliser in the meantime.

Rinaldi won their 18th title in Minsk last November, beating hosts Belarus 3-2, and are by far the record winners in the most important women’s tennis team competition. The Czech Republic, however, has won the crown five times in the past seven years alone (ten times in total).