The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : U.S. pulls level

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Monday, Apr 27, 2009
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U.S. pulls level

BRNO (Czech Republic): Teenager Alexa Glatch kept the United States in the Fed Cup semifinals against the Czech Republic, winning her second singles match of the weekend Sunday to bring the Americans to 2-2 in the best-of-five series.

The 19-year-old Glatch, playing in the Fed Cup for the first time, beat Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-1. In the first reverse singles match, Lucie Safarova put the Czechs ahead by beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1.

The series will be decided later in the doubles, with Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke facing Liezel Huber and Mattek-Sands. Glatch broke Kvitova twice in the opening set to lead 5-1 and converted her first set point when the Czech double-faulted in the eighth game.

Glatch, ranked 114th, continued to dominate in the second set, breaking her 48th-ranked opponent in the second and fourth games before serving out the match.

If the Czech Republic wins the doubles match, it would be the country’s first Fed Cup final since it came into existence after the break up of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Czechoslovakia won five Fed Cup titles, the last in 1988.

The U.S. has won a record 17 Fed Cup titles but its last came in 2000. The Americans last reached to the final in 2003.

The results: At Brno: Czech Republic 2 vs. United States 2 (Lucie Safarova bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1; Alexa Glatch bt Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-1; Kvitova bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 7-6(2); Alexa Glatch bt Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-2).

At Castellaneta Marina: Italy 3 vs. Russia 1 (Svetlana Kuztnetsova bt Flavia Pennetta 6-0, 6-3; Francesca Schiavone bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-2; Schiavone bt Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; Pennetta bt Chakvetadze 6-4, 6-0). — Agencies

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