STUTTGART, GERMANY
Andrea Petkovic won her second three-set encounter of the weekend to seal victory and a semifinal berth for the Germans in their Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group tie in Stuttgart.
In the day's first rubber, Angelique Kerber made up for her surpise loss on Saturday with a straight sets win against a tired Samantha Stosur, giving Petkovic the chance to secure Germany's progress. And, as she had done in her match with Stosur on Saturday, Petkovic started quickly, winning the first set 6-3 to put herself in control. But once again she allowed her opponent back into it, with just the one break needed for Gajdosova to take the second and force her way back into the match. And the gutsy Australian sealed an early break in the third as the tie looked to be heading towards a deciding fifth rubber. But Petkovic’s nerves of steel, perhaps the defining feature of this tie, were apparent once more as she hauled herself back into the set, levelling at 4-4, before eventually taking the third set 8-6 to put Germany through to the semifinals.
Earlier on, Stosur failed to recapture the form that had put the visitors so close to a commanding lead on Saturday. Kerber, by contrast, had banished the memories of losing having taken the first set against Gajdosova in the opening rubber of the tie. In a match lasting just 88 minutes the German held her nerve as unforced errors flowed off her opponents racket to seal victory 62 64 and put the hosts within a point of a return to the semifinals.
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