After less than three hours, Australia is teetering on the brink of elimination from its first Fed Cup semi-final in 21 years. Germany swept through the opening two matches on Pat Rafter Arena in straight sets, and with one more point will qualify for a November final against either Italy or the Czech Republic.
Only a wild optimist would have forecast an Australian lead after the opening day, but if 1-1 would have been a good result, then 0-2 was disastrous. Spearhead Sam Stosur fell 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) to Andrea Petkovic to extend her poor home-court record, before Casey Dellacqua was outclassed 6-0, 6-1 by world No.7 Angelique Kerber in 51 minutes.
Kerber can kill-off Australia’s remote chance of an upset in Sunday’s first reverse singles against Stosur, whom she has not beaten in two previous attempts, but if captain Alicia Molik was left to speak bravely of a miracle comeback then reality suggests something very different.
‘‘We’ll have a rest and a regroup tonight and talk about today’s matches, and then we have to go out with the right intentions tomorrow and we have to give it all that we’ve got, but we’re a definite chance. I don’t see that we can’t claw our way back from this,’’ said Molik.
‘‘We don’t have anything to lose, they are higher-ranked opponents, so we need to take that view into tomorrow. First match, Sam against Kerber, Sam has a great track record against her, and I really believe then that the fourth singles, Casey’s been playing fantastic the last few months, and I still think she can draw so much confidence from the lead-up that she’s had to this event. I don’t think you’re defined by one match.’’
German captain Barbara Rittner was predictably cautious, while also acknowledging the opening day as the perfect launching pad for what would be Germany’s first final since 1992. Australia’s most recent Fed Cup title came in 1974, and its last decider in 1993.
‘‘There’s still three points to give away,’’ said Rittner. ‘‘Two-love is nice for the moment, and I’m proud of the performance today, but tomorrow is a completely new day, and of course they still have their chances and the matches were closer than it looks.’’
If Molik had been ‘‘quietly confident’’ of a 1-1 outcome, at worst, then the Stosur-Petkovic match was the crucial one for Australia, with the Queenslander’s recovery from an erratic first set falling just short of forcing the world No.28 into a decider. Stosur served for the second set at 5-4, and saved four match points after falling behind 3-6 in the tiebreak before one last forehand error on the fifth sealed the 101-minute defeat.
‘‘I think every match is very important, and I think you’d be pretty silly to say the first one doesn’t mean anything cos it absolutely does,’’ said Stosur. ‘‘So, look, it’s not the ideal start, by any means, but we can’t do anything about it now.''
Petkovic said the key had been to continue to play aggressively after a solid first set, despite Stosur’s improved serving and heavy topspin groundstrokes forcing her a little further back behind the baseline. She was ‘‘lucky’’, she insisted, to sneak away with the tiebreak, but reserved judgment on whether that would prove to be the tie’s decisive match.
‘‘The Fed Cup is such a different story than to a normal tournament, and I had lost to her before, so I had nothing to lose,’’ said the former world No.9, who has been bedeviled by injuries in recent seasons. ‘‘It was a tougher mental state for Sam, I think, playing in front of her home crowd. So I don’’t know if it was the pivotal match, I can tell you tomorrow night, probably.’’
Dellacqua could never find her way into the all-lefty contest with the immaculate Kerber, but must rely on Stosur to have the chance to return to the singles court today against Petkovic. ‘‘She’s top 10 for a reason, and I think today she played extremely well,’’ said the world No.53. ‘‘Hopefully that’s great that I’ve got that match under my belt and tomorrow’s a new day and I can just put my best foot forward like I always do, and hopefully it’s better than it was today.’’
