American head coach Mary Jo Hernandez shook things up on Sunday in Australia as she elected to use Coco Vandeweghe in the first singles match against Australian Sam Stosur. Just like her decision to use Christina McHale against Stosur on Saturday this decision seemed to be a stroke of genius. Stosur won the first set 6-2 and held an early 2-0 lead in set two before Vandeweghe finally started to regain her footing and broke back and evened the set at two each. With the set tied at five and Stosur serving up 40-30 Vandeweghe won the next three points to grab the break and consolidated the break in the next game to force a third set. She’d continue her strong playing winning the first couple points of set three and turning that into a set opening break that would stand through the entire third set. She saved four break points and held on for a 6-4 win and sent the Americans into the World Group next year for the first time since 2014.
With the tie no longer in doubt the second singles match was cancelled but the doubles match still took place between Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the Australian team of Daria Gavrilova and Arina Rodionova. The US cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 win and a 4-0 sweep of the tie.
With the World Group spot locked up the US knows they will be taking part in February 2017. It’s a long ways off bu when it comes around it’ll be interesting to see how strong of a squad the US sends. If their very top players can’t go some of the “B Team” who competed this weekend showed they are capable of delivering on a big stage.
Christina McHale had the opportunity to seize control of the Fed Cup tie against Australia on Saturday when she took on Sam Stosur. An earlier fairly straightforward 6-4, 6-2 win by Madison Keys over Daria Gavrilova put the US in front. McHale was shaky from the start getting broken in her first two service games and trailing 4-1. She lost the first set 6-3 but rebounded quickly in set two taking the first five games and eventually the set 6-1. Holding serve was the story in the third and decisive set as the two traded serve until at a 3-3 tie McHale had numerous opportunities to break. Six break points can and went and eventually Stosur pulled out the game. The two continued to trade games all the way to 5-5 before McHale finally got another chance to break Stosur and took advantage. McHale lost two of the first three points in the final game but won the next three to close out the set and give the US a huge 2-0 lead.
Now on Sunday Keys has the opportunity to lock things up for the US against Stosur and even if she falters the US will have two other opportunities to close out the tie when McHale takes on Gavrilova and when Coco Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands take on the Australian doubles team of Casey Dellacqua and Arina Rodionova. As always with these Fed Cup matchups they are subject to change at coach Mary Jo Hernandez discretion.
On Saturday down in Australia the US will take on the Aussies in an attempt to rejoin the Fed Cup World Group in 2017 for the first time since 2014. In this stage in 2014 the US lost to France and to Italy in 2015 knocking them into World Group II. The team tasked with getting the US back to the World Group is Madison Keys, Christina McHale, Coco Vandeweghe, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The US is missing all three of their top players in the world rankings (Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Sloane Stephens) but this group certainly is strong enough to get the win.
Things get started on Saturday with two singles matches. Keys will be taking on Daria Gavrilova with the American slightly higher ranked. These two have never met and a lot of pressure will be on Keys to start things off well for the US. The second match features McHale taking on Sam Stosur. Stosur has a significant advantage in the rankings and experience and is 4-0 against McHale. That’s why Keys’ match is so important as you’d certainly give Stosur the edge in match two and the US going down 2-0 would put them in huge trouble.
We found out on Tuesday the opponent for the US in the world group play-off round and it is France. France is up to 13th in the world rankings while the US has fallen to eighth. We know that the US will host the matchup but the location is still TBD. Personally I vote Omaha, Nebraska… ;).
The USA has an 11-1 all-time record against France in Fed Cup play with the only loss a 4-1 defeat in the 2003 Final. The last matchup went 4-1 to the US in the World Group first round in February 2010 with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin, Christina McHale, and Liezel Huber representing the US.
France advanced to the World Group Play-off after beating Switzerland 3-2 in Paris in the World Group II in February. Virginie Razzano, Alize Cornet and Kristina Mladenovic appeared for the French team. Their top singles players are Cornet (#25), Mladenovic (#71), Carolina Garcia (#76) and Razzano (#87). Mladenovic is currently the #17 doubles player with Garcia ranked #74.
The US will definitely be favorites in the tie. Home court advantage will help but the biggest question may be which women will agree to play. It is a much better travel situation for US players compared to the last round as the previous three biggest WTA tournaments are on US soil. There is a WTA Premier tournament (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix) in Germany the next week. The US has 11 players in the top 67 in the world so regardless of which four are on the team I expect the US to be favorites.
We knew that inexperience would be an issue for the US against Italy but the hope was that the higher ranked American players would at least be able to hold their own on home soil. Well the inexperience won out as the Americans struggled to a 3-1 home loss to World #1 Italy.
Italy’s Karin Knapp dispatched Christina McHale 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the first rubber on Saturday. That wasn’t a huge surprise as Knapp is the higher ranked player. What was a surprise was how soundly Madison Keys was beaten by Camila Giorgi: 6-2, 6-1. That resounding thumping meant the US had to win all three rubbers on Sunday. Keys has struggled at times in big moments, we saw it a few times at the Australian Open, and the 18-year old may have just been in over her head a bit in this one. Plenty of time for her to mature and become a major part of the US team.
Thanks for all the support! Not how we wanted it to go but we fought and we’ll be back 🙂 #FedCup#lovemyteam
It’s the beginning of the 2014 Fed Cup this weekend with the World Group first round and the US begins by hosting the current World #1 Italy in Cleveland. The Fed Cup is a little different than the Davis Cup that the men participated in last weekend in that the World Group in the Fed Cup is split into two halves… The World Group (the top eight teams) and World Group II (the next eight teams).
This does mean that the process to fall out of the world groups is a bit harder. For the US it would require losing this weekend, losing a playoff in April to fall into the world group II, losing in the first round of World Group II next year, and losing another playoff after that to fall into the Americas Zone. It’s a hard scenario to see unfolding anytime soon, but it also puts some pressure on teams as if you fall out of the top eight you can’t win the Fed Cup the next year. No chance of seeing a team get hot (Great Britain in the Davis Cup?) and come streaking to a title after being out of the top 16 the year before.
For the US the task this weekend is not quite what it appears to be on paper. Yes this is a matchup of the US and Italy who is #1 in the Fed Cup standings right now. But the top players for both teams will not be a part of the tie and so a lot of the luster is gone. World #1 Serena Williams is not playing due to her back injury suffered in the Australian Open. Italy is missing #7 Sara Errani and #14 Roberta Vinci due to concerns about the busy schedule right now. It’s understandable, one of the biggest 10 non-grand slam events on the WTA starts Monday in Qatar. American Sloane Stephens (18th in the world) is still recovering from the wrist injury she suffered a month ago. #22 in the world, Italian Flavia Pennetta also decided not to participate for the travel concerns. And finally American Jamie Hampton (#31) had hip surgery after an injury that forced her to withdraw from the Australian Open before it began.
The US will be without Serena Williams and their next two highest ranked players for their Fed Cup match vs. Italy.
So we have none of the top three players for either country. That actually makes 18-year-old Madison Keys the highest ranked player for either country. She’s currently 37th in the world. The other Americans are Allison Riske (#46), Lauren Davis (#59) and Christina McHale (#62). That’s not so bad when you look at the Italian backups: Karin Knapp (#40), Camila Giorgi (#84), Nastassja Burnett (#161), and Alice Matteucci (#704).
I think the fact that the Fed Cup is being held immediately in advance of a WTA Premier 5 tournament is ridiculous. If you want to make this event mean something, schedule it at better times when the players won’t be so concerned with the following week’s tournament. However this has created a great opportunity for the US and for fans of the young US women’s talent (all four players are 23 or younger) this will be an exciting opportunity to see them play in the Fed Cup.
As of now the schedule… all of this is going to be carried live by Tennis Channel.
Saturday at 1 PM ET. Rubber 1 – Christina McHale vs. Karin Knapp – McHale leads 1-0 all-time Rubber 2 – Madison Keys vs. Camila Giorgi – Keys leads 1-0 all-time
Sunday at 12 PM ET. Rubber 3 – (Likely) – Madison Keys vs. Karin Knapp – Have never played Rubber 4 – (Likely) – Christina McHale vs. Camila Giorgi – McHale leads 1-0 all-time Rubber 5 – (Likely) – Allison Riske/Lauren Davis vs. Nastassja Burnett/Alice Matteucci – These pairs have never played together or against any of their opponents.
I put likely on those matchups because the captains (Mary Jo Fernandez for the US) can make changes for that second day still… In fact the doubles players could be changed after the 4th rubber if they wanted.
I think the US will be a favorite with the slightly higher ranked players and the home-court advantage in Cleveland. Hopefully the young Americans (only McHale has played Fed Cup before) can shake off any nerves about playing for the US for the first time.
