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By Adrianna Outlaw | Saturday, February 6, 2016

 
Angelique Kerber

Angelique Kerber stopped Timea Bacsinszky, 6-1, 6-3, in 74 minutes to level Germany's Fed Cup tie with Switzerland, 1-1.

Photo credit: Fed Cup

Angelique Kerber continues to excel in major moments.

A week after Kerber became the first German woman to win the Australian Open since her idol, Steffi Graf, in 1994, the world No. 2 roused national spirits again.

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Opening on a five-game tear, Kerber conquered Timea Bacsinszky, 6-1, 6-3, to level Germany's opening-round Fed Cup tie with Switzerland, 1-1, on the hard court of Leipzig.

"I'm feeling good. The crowd was unbelievable and playing at home was great," Kerber said. "So this gives you much more energy. I was just tying to play my game after the big success last week. I was enjoying my game tonight."

Belinda Bencic staked Switzerland to a 1-0 lead with a tidy 6-3, 6-4 victory over Andrea Petkovic.

Showing no signs of fatigue playing her first match since she stunned Serena Williams in the Australian Open final, Kerber picked up right where she left off in Melbourne.

Targeting Bacsinszky's weaker forehand wing in rallies, Kerber quickly built a 3-0 lead. Bacsinszky lured the German forward with a drop shot and tried blasting the ball right at her, but Kerber answered with a slick self-preservation volley. That rapid-fire exchange helped her break again for 4-0. She slid a serve winner to stretch the lead to 5-0.

"There's nothing to complain about," German captain Barbara Rittner told the media of Kerber. "There has been such unbelievable development. She is now really the No. 1 that you'd want."

Riding an eight-match winning streak, Kerber will face Bencic in tomorrow's opening reverse singles followed by Petkovic versus Bacsinszky in their first meeting since the Swiss prevailed in 2008.

The 18-year-old Swiss has not dropped a set to Kerber in two prior meetings, scoring victories at the 2015 Cincinnati and the 2011 US Open.

"Belinda is a great player. She played well today," Kerber said. "I will just try to play like I played today. Let's see. I think it will be tough and a close match against her."

Hall of Famer Martina Hingis and Viktorija Golubic are scheduled to face the German team of Annika Beck and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in tomorrow's doubles match. However, both captains can substitute and if the tie is deadlocked heading into the doubles a Hingis pairing with Bencic, who is coached by Hingis' mother, Melanie Molitor, is quite possible.


Fed Cup World Group First-Round Results

 
Romania 1, Czech Republic 1

Czech No. 2 Karolina Pliskova broke serve seven times defeating Romanian No. 1 Simona Halep, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2. Monica Niculescu surprised two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-4, to level for host Romania.

Karolina Pliskova

Kvitova, who had won seven straight Fed Cup singles matches before bowing to Maria Sharapova in the 2015 final, has now lost two in a row. Halep will play Kvitova in tomorrow's opening reverse singles match. The Romanian has won both prior meetings with the left-handed Czech.

Italy 1, France 0

Shrugging off a first-set blowout and 11 double faults, Camila Giorgi fought off Kristina Mladenovic, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, ine one hour, 44 minutes to stake Italy to the lead in Marseille. Mladenovic came undone comitting 20 of her 37 unforced errors in the decisive set.

Caroline Garcia leads Italian Sara Errani, 6-3, 4-4 in second singles.   


Netherlands 2, Russia 0



Kiki Bertens blasted past Ekaterina Makarova, 6-3, 6-4, hitting four times as many winners (16 to 4), giving the visitors the early lead over host Russia. Richel Hogenkamp followed shocking Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 10-8 in a four-hour marathon to put the Netherlands on the brink of an astounding upset.  





 

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