Tuesday, November 02, 2021
Clear bankruptcy for DTB women
Kerber does not prevent the Prague horror
After two games, the semi-finals of the reformed Fed Cup are already out of reach for Germany’s best tennis players. Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber suffer two defeats against Switzerland, which seal the earliest possible end.
Angelique Kerber braced herself with all means against the premature knockout, repeatedly shouting a loud “Come on” – but at the end of a long season, the strength was no longer sufficient. The German tennis women have already failed in the preliminary round at the Billie Jean King Cup, the defeat against Switzerland buried all remaining hopes of reaching the semi-finals in the “horror group” D.
After the 7: 5, 2: 6, 2: 6 of the three-time Grand Slam winner Kerber against Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, the end was sealed before the final double. Previously, Andrea Petkovic Viktorija Golubic had to admit defeat 4: 6, 5: 7. After the 1: 2 against hosts Czech Republic yesterday, the selection of the German Tennis Association (DTB) no longer has a chance of reaching the semi-finals as group winners at the premiere of the reformed team competition.
The German players experienced a real contrast program. While they had experienced a loud international match atmosphere the evening before on the Prague Center Court in front of a good 10,000 mainly Czech fans, only around 150 spectators lost their way to the smaller side hall against Switzerland. And the hopes of the small German fan group were directly dampened because Petkovic got off to a bad start against Golubic, as he did the night before, and was trailing 4-0. “These are times when I notice my age a bit,” said the 34-year-old: “It took my body 20 to 30 minutes to get going.”
Bencic’s anger is too much for Kerber
But Petkovic then fought his way into the match with much more snappy body language, even earning three set balls in the second round. But right after the missed chances, she conceded the decisive break – and increased the pressure on Kerber enormously.
But like on Monday against the world number three and French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova, the top German player initially showed a strong performance. Kerber countered the power of the Swiss with her dreaded counter tennis and remained ice cold, especially under pressure. Bencic, on the other hand, showed weaknesses for the first time at 5: 6 – which the German number one immediately punished.
After Bencic rushed wildly into the cabin and received a warning, she started the second set even more powerfully and broke Kerber immediately. The Kiel woman, who returned to the top 10 in the world rankings on Monday after more than two years, looked impressed, gave up her serve to make it 1: 4 again with two double errors and had to go into the decisive set. Kerber fought doggedly there, too, but had to take a treatment break after the break to make it 2: 3 and then had no longer enough to oppose it.
This leaves Germany with two titles in the most important team competition in women’s tennis. In 1987 and 1992, the DTB selection won the Fed Cup at the time, led by Steffi Graf.