(April 20th, 2013) -- Italy is only a win away from sending defending champions Czech Republic home early after day one of their Fed Cup World Group semis held in Palermo, Italy.
In a rematch of the Katowice finals held last weekend, veteran
Roberta Vinci once again had all of the answers against
Petra Kvitova. Vinci, who beat Kvitova to claim the Katowice title in straight sets, used her crafty all-court game to disrupt the Czech from gaining any momentum in the match.
Despite having one of the biggest serves in the game, Kvitova failed to hold serve even once throughout the match. After dropping the first set, Kvitova looked lost and resigned to defeat as Vinci toyed with her from the baseline with clever slice backhands before moving in to finish off points with volley winners.
A final ace from Vinci when serving for the match gave her a 6-4, 6-1 victory that delighted the partisan Italian crowd on hand.
Earlier in the day,
Sara Errani took care of business by defeating
Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-2.
With the Italians up 2-0, Kvitova later said wiping away the bitter defeat from her memory was her main goal now.
"I hope I can cancel this match in my mind and have a free mind for tomorrow," Kvitova told FedCup.com. "I’m still getting better, and it’s obviously tough to be 100% ready to play these girls on clay but we’ll see."
Hantuchova Helps Slovak Republic Take Early Lead Over Russia
Though playing away in their semifinal tie versus Russia, the Slovak Republic felt right at home in Moscow as they opened up a 2-0 lead on day one.
The opening singles rubber between
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova against
Dominika Cibulkova was expected to be a close one and it was. After taking a close first set, Pavlyuchenkova saw her level drop in the second set and that was all Cibulkova needed to push things to a decider.
Cibulkova never faced a break point against her in the final set and that helped her close out the 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
But the real surprise came in the second singles when veteran
Daniela Hantuchova overcame a nervy
Maria Kirilenko to close out a convincing 6-2, 6-4 upset win.
Germany and Serbia Split While Rain Delays Australia vs. Switzerland
In World Group Playoff action, Germany and Serbia find themselves deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the second day of their tie.
Serbia's
Ana Ivanovic withstood a stern test from
Mona Barthel before Ivanovic prevailed 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2. The second singles rubber saw German No. 1
Angelique Kerber dismiss
Bojana Jovanovski 7-5, 6-2.
As expected, Spain took a commanding 2-0 lead over Japan in their tie with
Silvia Soler-Espinosa and
Carla Suarez Navarro both winning in straight sets.
Finally, heavy rain postponed all matches between Australia and Switzerland in their tie taking place in Chiasso, Switzerland. Matches were rescheduled for tomorrow and it is possible all singles rubbers will be contested back to back on Sunday.