By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, November 11, 2018
Katerina Siniakova saved two match points subduing Sofia Kenin, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5, clinching the Czech Republic's sweep of the USA and 11th Fed Cup championship.
Photo credit: Fed Cup Facebook
Tears welled in Katerina Siniakova's eyes as hope seemed to slip from her grip.
The world No. 1 doubles player saw a strong-willed Sofia Kenin roar back from 1-4 down in the final set and earn double match point in this pressure-packed Fed Cup final that sent Siniakova to the edge of emotional implosion.
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Wiping away the tears, a spirited Siniakova made a determined push to capture the Cup.
Siniakova saved two match points at 4-5 reeling off three straight games to edge Kenin in an epic 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 triumph that clinched the Czech Republic's 3-0 sweep of defending-champion United States and its 11th Fed Cup championship in front of a raucous crowd of more than 10,000 at the O2 Arena in Prague.
"It was amazing," Siniakova said. "I couldn't imagine [the crowd] could be so loud. In the end, it was amazing. I just felt that I'm playing for them and not just for me so they helped me really much."
This was dizzying drama that spanned three hours, 45 minutes—the longest women's match of the year—and popped with pulsating plot twists, resilient runs from both players, nervous forehand failures, a 19-and-a-half minute game in the final set, a medical time-out to treat Kenin's left leg injury and pure heart, fight and commitment from both women.
When a squatting Kenin's final forehand squirted wide, Siniakova raised her arms and was swarmed by her Czech teammates in pure joy.
It is the Czech Republic's sixth Fed Cup championship in the last eight years and Siniakova turned in a heroic performance for the home team that was without its two top players: Karolina Pliskova was out with a leg injury, while Petra Kvitova could not post because of illness.
The 22-year-old Siniakova stepped up conquering her nerves, spiking stress and a stubborn teenage opponent who showed no sign of surrender.
In the aftermath, disconsolate Kenin dissolved in tears as U.S. captain Kathy Rinaldi wrapped her arms around the 19-year-old Fed Cup debutant to try to console her.
Truth is Kenin should hold her head high after fighting her heart out in a pair of gritty three-setters that saw her spend nearly seven hours on court competing with courage despite the apparent leg issue.
It was a gutsy victory for Siniakova, who showed sheer defiance fighting through that near 20-minute marathon game for a 4-1 final-set lead only to tighten up severely and see Kenin come roaring back.
Siniakova, whose forehand failed her during Kenin's comeback, showed courage hitting through the forehand fighting off one match point winning a 25-shot rally and the second when Kenin missed a forehand.
The Kenin two-handed backhand is a much more stable shot than her forehand, which she sometimes catches late and isn't as accurate driving down the line.
A flurry of forehand errors put Kenin in a double break point bind. She double-faulted the break away in the eighth game.
Serving for the set at 5-3, Siniakova stressed out swiping her racquet at the court.
At the urging of the U.S. bench, Kenin made a late and successful challenge, drawing the ire of Czech captain Petr Pala, who argued, to no avail, it was a late challenge. A revived Kenin drew an error to break back.
The 19-year-old American held for 5-all before Siniakova stamped a love hold she closed with a clever drop shot.
Serving to force the tie break, Kenin saved two set points, but netted a forehand down the line to face a third set point.
The world No. 1 doubles player, who had shown signs of frustrations in the latter stages, stepped into the court and belted a backhand to open the court before driving a forehand down the line to close the set with a shout.
Though Kenin fought hard she committed some loose errors, particularly off the forehand, that hurt. Siniakova made 13 errors—10 fewer than Kenin—in snatching the 65-minute opening set.
The American teenager was down 1-3 for the second straight set—and fifth time in two matches—and for the second straight set she staged a strong comeback.
A fired-up Kenin, who was on the verge of a 0-4 deficit just minutes earlier, broke again for her fourth consecutive game and a 4-3 lead.
During the ensuing changeover, Siniakova buried her face in her towel while captain Pala tried to calm and refocus his charge. The Czech broke back from 0-30 down to level at 4-all.
On this day, each time Siniakova needed to step up, she answered the call.
Belting a backhand into the corner, the Roland Garros and Wimbledon doubles champion held for 5-4, putting the Czechs one game from the Cup.
The wave erupted around the O2 Arena as the crowd of about 10,700 fans were chanting in unison as Kenin served to extend the match.
The teenager wasn't done. Asserting her game, Kenin broke back for 6-5.
Working over the Czech's forehand, Kenin drew an error for a fourth set point. This time, Kenin closed luring Siniakova forward with a drop shot then cleanly passing her to force a final set.
At that point the biggest question was could Siniakova keep her nerve and emotions in check?
Siniakova probed the sometime fragile forehand of the American breaking in the second game then breezed through confirmation for 3-0.
The world No. 52 took a medical timeout for treatment of her left thigh.
A fierce fifth game turned into an epic as the Czech repeatedly scraped out slice forehands to extend points.
A stubborn Siniakova repeatedly fended off break points navigating a 19-and-a-half minute hold for 4-1.
Resilience was Kenin's best weapon in this match.
The teenager was hitting sharper shots, including an acute angled backhand crosscourt breaking back for 3-4 as a glum Siniakova trudged back to her seat seeing another lead slip.
An empowered Kenin cruised through a love break—her fourth straight game—to serve for it at 5-4.
Playing just the second Fed Cup match of her career, Kenin fired a backhand down the line for two match points. Siniakova, who was finally hitting through her forehand instead of chipping it, saved the first with a crackling forehand winning draining 25-shot rally.
Clutching at the back of her left leg before the second match point, Kenin sailed a forehand to drop to deuce. The teenager poked a short forehand into net kicking the ball in disgust at her transgression then sent a stray forehand wide. Siniakova broke back for 5-all.
Another plot twist saw Siniakova save triple break point holding for 6-5 and shifting the pressure squarely on the shoulders of the American with the gimpy leg.
Kenin flew a forehand long giving Siniakova championship point 15 minutes after she saved a pair of match points. The ensuing forehand-to-forehand exchange ended abruptly when some fans incorrectly yelled out and a distracted Siniakova made the mistaking of stopping play, losing the point in the process.
Skipping a forehand off the tape, Kenin confronted a second championship point.
When the final forehand missed the mark, Siniakova delivered the Cup to a joyous Czech team and frenetic fan base blowing horns and banging drums to celebrate a jittery classic.