After a blah first day on Saturday, Sunday delivered a dramatic day of Fed Cup with two deciding doubles rubbers in World Group I plus another in World Group II. Injuries also took their toll as several top players had to bow out prior to competition such as Bartoli, Ivanovic, and Jankovic.
World Group I
CZE 4 AUS 0 - Stosur played well for the Aussies but not well enough. She lost to Safarova in two tiebreaks on day 1 then held match point against Kvitova on day 2 but couldn't finish her off.
ITA 3 USA 2 - Lepchenko was nearly a great hero for the Americans. After Hampton lost to Errani on day 1, Lepchenko evened the tie by beating Vinci 7-5 in the 3rd. Then she came back the next day and beat Errani in straight sets. Vinci kept the Italians alive, beating Hampton in 3 sets, and then the Italians teamed up in doubles, beating Huber/Lepchenko easily to reach the semis.
RUS 3 JPN 2 - Like Lepchenko, Morita was very nearly a great hero for the Japanese, and in similar fashion. Kirilenko beat Date-Krumm but then Morita upset Makarova. Vesnina subbed in for the Russians on day 2 but lost to Morita and Makarova kept the Russians in it by beating Date-Krumm. Makarova/Vesnina then beat Doi/Morita to make Makarova the hero of the day.
SVK 3 SRB 1 - Ivanovic and Jankovic bailed with injury so it looked like a tall task for Serbia, but the tie took an interesting turn when Cibulkova had retire up a set against Dolonc. But Hantuchova came through with two singles wins and rookie Cepelova survived Fed Cup hero Jovanovski 11-9 in the 3rd. (The doubles was not played so technically in 3-2 SVK.)
Semis: Czech Republic at Italy, Slovakia at Russia
World Group II
SUI 4 BEL 1 - This was a surprising result to me. Wickmayer outlasted Voegele 8-6 in the 3rd to open the tie but then it was all Switzerland. Oprandi got 2 singles win and Voegele got one.
SWE 3 ARG 2 - We were on the way to big upset when Ormachea and Molinero got day 1 singles wins. But Sweden with Arvidsson and Larsson won 3 matches on day 2. The bad part is that Ormachea had to retire in the 3rd set against Arvidsson and the home side didn't win another set.
ESP 3 UKR 1 - This was a surprising sweep for the Spaniards with Dominguez Lino, Soler-Espinosa, and Torro-Flor each winning a singles match before Ukraine won the doubles. In the first match, Dominguez Lino def. Svitolina 8-6 in the 3rd.
GER 3 FRA 1 - When Bartoli went down, this quickly became and all-German tie. Georges won two rubbers to lead the visitor's in the sweep with Lisicki also winning one.
World Group I Playoff Field: Australia, Germany, Japan, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States
Europe/Africa Zonal Group I
Pool A - Belarus proved to be surprising tough and Austria proved to be surprisingly weak. Croatia, behind Vekic and girls AO champ Konjuh cruised to the win the pool and Georgia was not very competitive at the bottom.
Pool B - Great Britain and Hungary were at the top of this pool, and in their head-to-head Robson and Watson handled Arn and Babos. Bosnia & Herzegovina won just one rubber to lose the pool.
Pool C - U.Radwanska was beaten Glushko but A.Radwanska handled Peer and then the Polish sisters won the doubles to advance. Romania did surprisingly poor evenly losing to Turkey but survived because they had beaten Israel, and Turkey was sent to the relegation tie.
Pool D - Bulgaria was the only team not to lose a rubber in pool play, sweeping through Luxembourg, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. The Dutch came in second, and Luxembourg was last.
Promotion ties: Konjuh upset U.Radwanska to open the CRO/POL tie but Aggie again came to the rescue and the Poles won the doubles. The British advanced when Robson and Watson proved too strong for Pironkova and Evtimova.
Relegation ties: Turkey, which surprised some in pool play, beat Georgia in the doubles to stay to group I while Luxembourg bested Bosnia & Herzegovina.
GBR and POL advance to World Group II Playoffs, BIH and GEO return to Zonal Group II. Georgia makes an immediate return while Bosnia & Herzegovina was up for 2 years.
Americas Zonal Group I
Pool A - As expected, this pool came down to Canada and Colombia. In that tie, Fichman and Bouchard beat Castano and Duque Marino to advance Canada. Venezuela and Peru were sent to relegation ties.
Pool B - Again as expected, this pool was decided between Brazil and Paraguay. In that tie, Goncalves and Pereira defeated Gonzalez and Cepede Royg to advance Brazil. Mexico did get a rubber from Paraguay but was still sent to relegation ties with Chile.
Promotion tie: Goncalves and Bouchard won singles to send the tie to the doubles. The Canadians (Dabrowski/Fichman) won a tight match over Pereira/Bicossi 7-6 7-5 to advance to the playoffs.
Relegation ties: VEN 2 CHI 1, MEX 3 PER 0
CAN will compete in the World Group II playoffs while CHI and PER fall back to Group II. Chile makes an immediate return to the lower level while Peru last played there in 2010. That what missing one player can do (Bianca Botto).
Asia/Pacific Zonal Group I
Pool A - The only drama in this pool came when Kumkhum stunned Shvedova to send the Kazakhstan/Thailand tie to the doubles. There Shvedova/Voskoboeva handled the Thais in 3 sets to advance. India was punchless without Mirza.
Pool B - China played well without their top players (turns out Zhang and Zheng didn't show up either) but couldn't overcome the Uzbeks as Abduraimova and Amanmuradova swept the singles over Tang and Wang. Taiwan beat South Korea to avoid the relegation tie.
Promotion tie: Pervak beat Abduraimova beat then Amanmuradova came back to cap her stellar week with an upset of Shvedova. But the Kazakhs doubles again bailed them out and they'll be in the playoffs.
Relegation tie: KOR 3 IND 0
KAZ will compete in the World Group II playoffs and should be able to field a formidable team. IND drops back to Group II and continues a pattern of up-down-up-down.
World Group II Playoff Field: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine
Asia/Pacific Zonal Group II
Pool A order: Hong Kong (11-1 in rubbers), New Zealand (Erakovic missed out), Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Singapore
Pool B order: Indonesia (15-0), Philippines, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Iran
Promotion tie: INA 2 HKG 0
INA is promoted to Zonal Group I, making an immediate return, spending only 1 year in Group II.
I'll recap the ATP week later. I may also get a quick post in when the playoff draws are announced.
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