Swedes sweep Thais off court

Thailand are fighting with their backs against the wall with a gargantuan task of winning the three remaining rubbers if they have to remain in the elite Fed Cup World Group II after falling down 2-0 against Sweden in the opening singles on Saturday in Lidkoping.

The Kingdom’s squad, making their first appearance in Group II since 2006, put up a lacklustre performance. Lukiska Kumkhum and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn played below par and were mercilessly punished.

World No 214 Noppawan made a plethora of unforced errors as she lost to world No 88 Johanna Larsson 6-1 6-3 in the opening rubber before error prone Luksika handed the hosts the second point with a 6-4 6-2 defeat to Sofia Arvidsson. 

“I did not convert any of the breaking opportunities,” said Noppawan, a former junior world No 1. “The turning point was when I made an easy mistake at the net and I just lost my momentum. But in the second set I improved my game and each game went very close. If I had played like that from the beginning, I could have given her a better fight,” added Noppawan, who was to play Arvidsson last night Swedish time 

“Larsson hits top spin and the court suits her kind of play. But Sofia has a similar game like mine as she hits flat and plays solid groundstrokes. I believe I can give her a good match.”

Luksika’s dominating groundtsrokes and first serves deserted her against world No 146 Arvidsson whom she had upset in the Australian Open first round last year.

 “Overall I played well but she was a better player. She played her own game while I did not. Her serves were better but I didn’t put her under pressure on my serves. Now we are the underdogs and even though we are down 2-0, there are still chances for us to come back. We will fight hard and try to turn around the situation,” said Luksika.

Captain Priyakarn Salivorraroj said her players were inconsistent and gave up points too easily in rallies.

“They rushed things and ended up making mistakes. They were not as consistent as the Swedes. Our players need to be more prudent with each shot,” said the Thai skipper.

“It’s not easy no matter what team you are up against in the World Group II. We hope we make a come back and win the remaining matches, but if we don’t, we will take it as a good experience.” 

 

Germany in Fed Cup final

 

Angelique Kerber put Germany into their first Fed Cup final in 22 years with a fighting victory over Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the semi-final in Brisbane, Australia.

World No 7 Kerber fought back from dropping the opening set to beat former US Open champion Stosur 4-6 6-0 6-4 in two hours 14 minutes to give Germany an unassailable 3-0 lead over Australia.

The Australian pair of Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty prevented a wipe-out when they claimed the “dead” doubles rubber 6-2 6-7 (5/7) 10-2 over Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld. 

The final result was Germany 3, Australia 1. Germany will play either the Czech Republic or Italy in the final.

In Ostrava, the Czech Republic, winners in 2011 and 2012, were also 2-0 to the good against defending champions Italy, shrugging off a 20-minute power cut in the process.

Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova handed the Czech Republic a 2-0 lead over Italy in their semi-final.

Safarova, the world No 26 and Czech number-two, swept 11th-ranked Italian number one Sara Errani 6-4, 6-1 in an hour and 11 minutes.

It took sixth-ranked Kvitova five minutes longer to see off world number 54 Camila Giorgi 6-4 6-2 despite action being held up for 20 minutes due to a power outage.