LADYDRAGON.COM - Fed Cup 2009, Czech Republic 1-1 USA

Sunday April 26, 2009

Fed Cup 2009, Czech Republic 1-1 USA

Its 1-1 after the first day’s play in the semifinal of the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas tie between Czech Republic and USA after Petra Kvitova and Alexa Glatch notched up wins for their respective teams.

The shock of the day was undoubtedly 19-year-old Glatch's 61 62 victory over world No. 29 Iveta Benesova.

The USA went 1-0 down after Petra Kvitova overcame the higher ranked Bethanie Mattek-Sands 63 76(2) in the first match of the day. After struggling early on, Mattek-Sands looked to be making a comeback in the second set as she broke the Czech’s serve to lead 5-3. But nerves got to the American and Kvitova levelled things at 5-5 before eventually closing out the match in a tiebreak.

Glatch rises to the occasion

Facing a 1-0 deficit, the pressure was firmly on the Americans to get a win on the board in the second rubber and from the moment the first ball was struck, Fed Cup debutante Glatch looked unfazed by the task ahead of her.

“It was quite an experience out here,” said Glatch. “I served very well and used my slice pretty effectively so those two things were big keys in the match I think. I just tried not to think about the pressure and I’m just happy we could get a win for our team. I think we needed this one.”

Benesova struggles

Glatch showed her intentions early on, breaking her Czech opponent in the first game and serving solidly to race to a 5-0 lead. She took the set for the loss of just one game. The second set was a similar story, with Glatch picking up where she left off in the first and Benesova continuing to look short of form. In the end it took the American only 57 minutes to dispatch of her opponent in what was the biggest win of her career so far.

USA team captain Mary-Jo Fernandez was delighted with Glatch’s performance.

“I’m really proud of Alexa, she played extremely well,” she said. “In the first match Bethanie played well and had some chances but her opponent was just too good and really played well so I’m so happy that Alexa’s come through with a win here. Your first Fed Cup match being a teenager is not easy and she handled the occasion really well.”

Czech captain remains positive

At 1-1 overnight it is all to play for on Sunday, and despite the disappointing defeat of his No. 1 player today, Czech team captain Petr Pala is still optimistic about his team’s chances of reaching the final of the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas.

“We have to be confident going in to tomorrow,” he said. “I’m used to it being 1-1 after the first day so this isn’t a new feeling for me but we have three good players and good doubles players and we’ll have to see what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

In the reverse singles matches tomorrow, Glatch will take on Kvitova followed by Mattek-Sands against Benesova. There will then be a doubles match contested by Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber for the USA and Benesova and Kveta Peschke for the Czech Republic.

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