The best teams are going to play the 2012 Fed Cup finals.
The 2 ties were quite different. From one hand there was a big drama in Russia with the two teams evenly matches. On the other side there was a clear superiority by the Czech Rep over an aging Italy.
Russia – Serbia 2-3
After day 1 it was 1-1 and it was impossible to predict the outcome. The most probable scenario was that the two teams had to play their chance to the final in the doubles, but that was not the case.
Ivanovic had a very good match to defeat Pavlyuchenkova 3-6 6-0 6-3 and bring Serbia 2-1 up. “Nastia shocked me with her strong start and I felt I lost my nerve completely,” Ivanovic said. “Luckily, I managed to find my best form later in the match to win it. It’s never easy to start in the Fed Cup, but I found the right rhythm in the second set and stayed with it all the way.” (Highlights in the video above)
Then it was time to Jankovic to take on Kuznetsova. The match was surprisingly easy for the Serb to win it 6-1 6-4 “I’m very happy to win the deciding point for my country,” Jankovic said. “It’s the first time that Serbia have made the Fed Cup final and I’m proud to be a player in this team.”I didn’t expect to win so easy. I was just playing my tennis point by point trying to keep myself concentrated and it paid off. I’m really pleased with my playing today.”
On 3-1 it was game over, but there was still time to play the doubles (as a sort of exhibition). Pavlyuchenkova/Vesnina defeated Jovanovsky and Krunic 6-4 6-0.
Czech Rep – Italy 4-1
This was game over from day 1. Italy did not have the power to take on a much better team.
Chech Republic was already counting on a 2-0 scoreline and it needed only one match to get the pass for the final.
It was Kvitova – Schiavone. The world nr.3 got it in straight sets 6-4 7-6 (1). But it wasn’t easy against the former Roland Garros champion.
“It was an extremely tough game, Francesca managed to surprise me,” Kvitova said. Kvitova had to come back both in the first (0-3) and the second set (3-5). “It’s clear you won’t play the entire game in top form,” she said. She started to play well when she was 3-0 down in the first set, and her returns were terribly long and terribly hard to handle,” added Kvitova
On 3-0 there was time to play a couple of dead rubbers where Errani defeated Hlavackova 2-6 6-2 6-2 and Hlavackova/Hradecka defeated Errani Pennetta 5-6 ret.
