Monday, November 1st, 2021
1: 1 against the Czech Republic
Kerber beats French Open winner Krejcikova
Andrea Petkovic has no chance at the start, Angelique Kerber fights back after losing the first set and beats number three in the tennis world. At the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague, the decision against hosts Czech Republic will be made in the final doubles.
With a win against French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova, Angelique Kerber equalized 1-1 at the Billie Jean King Cup in the first group game against hosts Czech Republic. The 33-year-old tennis player from Kiel beat third in the world rankings in Prague with 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 0, 6: 4. Andrea Petkovic had previously lost to Marketa Vondrousova 1: 6, 3: 6. So the decision was made in the final double.
Kerber converted her first match point after 2:16 hours. The second group game will be played by the German women against Switzerland on Tuesday (5 p.m.). Only the first of the four groups will reach the semi-finals on Friday.
“It felt modest for me on the pitch today, but she also did very, very well,” said Petkovic after her sobering defeat in 1:15 hours, paying respect to her opponent. “She had the ball so well in the racket. It was just incredibly difficult for me today. When it was important, she made the points,” said the German number two.
Even before the late evening showdown in doubles, the 34-year-old Darmstadt woman was looking to the next difficult task. The Swiss women compete with Olympic champion Belinda Bencic and, like the Czech women, have a strong and balanced team. “Our group is simply the horror group”, said Petkovic and spoke of “difficult challenges” because, as tennis players in a regular tournament mode, they are not used to “having to play again the next day after defeats”.
Kerber again in the top ten
Kerber went into the duel with this year’s Roland Garros winner in singles and doubles with the mortgage of having to win. She was quickly 3-0 down, but fought her way into the match. As of this week, the 33-year-old from Kiel is number nine in the world for the first time in more than two years again in the top ten. Against third place in the list, Krejcikova, she missed two set balls, had to go into the tie-break – and, like Petkovic, made the first round with a double fault a few hours earlier. Like her teammate, she too had a brief self-talk under the towel. But instead of quarreling or doubting, Kerber continued to play calmly and concentratedly and decided set two 6-0 for himself.
Krejcikova was treated on the calf, the Czech trumpeters among the almost 10,000 spectators created an international match atmosphere. In the third round, a gripping duel developed with some high-class rallies. Kerber managed the decisive break to make it 4: 3.