Australia on back foot as Germany up 2-0
UPDATE: Australian captain Alicia Molik has no qualms admitting the obvious – it is all uphill if her team is to reach this years Fed Cup final after Angelique Kerber's 6-1, 6-0 dismissal of Casey Dellacqua.
Brisbane QLD, Australia, 19 April 2014 | Dan Imhoff
UPDATE: Australian captain Alicia Molik has no qualms admitting the obvious – it is all uphill for her team now if they are to deny Germany a place in this year’s Fed Cup final.
German No.1 Angelique Kerber made quick work of Casey Dellacqua to put the visitors 2-0 up after Day 1 of the semifinal in Brisbane, easily winning the battle of the lefties 6-1, 6-0.
It followed Andrea Petkovic’s earlier 6-1, 7-5 defeat of No.1 Sam Stosur and means the Australians will now have to win all three rubbers on Day 2 to break their 21-year Fed Cup final drought.
“I was quietly confident our worst result would be 1-1 because I really believe we’ve had a fantastic practice week,” Molik said.
“I think for Petkovic it would have been really difficult to recover mentally after having three match points but it didn’t go that way.
“As far as Casey playing against Kerber, well very similar game styles. I guess it’s just a real display of why Kerber is where she is in the rankings and why she has a single digit next to her name.”
It means the Australians must claim all three rubbers on Day 2 to pull off the unlikely comeback.
“It’ll be really hard. But I really think they’ll both be better tomorrow for today,” Molik said.
World No.7 Kerber put Germany just one win away from reaching its first Fed Cup final since 1992 with the 50-minute dismissal of her 53rd-ranked opponent.
“Of course it’s easier when you go on court and it’s 1-0 but I played very good match,” a beaming Kerber said afterwards. “I knew before that I had to play very good because Casey plays very well always at home and she’s also a lefty so also a little bit different to play against lefties, but yeah it’s a great feeling to be 2-0 up.”
A disappointed but upbeat Dellacqua was typically quick to praise her opponent’s level of play and determined to put in a better showing on Day 2.
“I found today really quite difficult. Like Alicia said our game styles are quite similar in a way and she’s top 10 for a reason,” Dellacqua said.
“It was great to be out there today and obviously I hoped to be able to put a better performance together.
“I just wanted to go out there today and do what I do well. Unfortunately Kerber did that a lot better than me today. At the end of the day my game wasn’t good enough today.”
German captain Barbara Rittner could not have asked much more of her players on Day 1 but was circumspect about penciling in her team for the final too soon.
It must have felt like the perfect start.
“Not almost, that was the perfect start. I mean I’ve seen two great matches today,” Rittner said.
“There’s still three points. I’m proud of their performance today, but tomorrow’s a completely different day.
“Angie hasn’t beaten Sam so far.”