Billie Jean King Cup: Germany fails in the preliminary round after defeats against the Czech Republic and Switzerland

On Monday, the selection of the German Tennis Association (DTB) lost 1: 2 against the host Czech Republic. After the defeat against Switzerland, the team of captain Rainer Schüttler no longer has a chance of the semi-finals on Friday, which only the winners of the four groups of three can reach.

As on the previous evening against the world number three and French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova, Kerber initially showed a strong performance. The German top player countered the Power Bencics with her dreaded counter tennis and stayed ice cold, especially under pressure. The Swiss, however, showed weaknesses for the first time at 5: 6 – which the German number one punished immediately.

Bencic then acted even more forcefully in the second set and broke Kerber immediately. The Kiel woman, who returned to the top 10 in the world on Monday after more than two years, looked impressed, gave up her serve to make it 1: 4 again with two double errors and had to go into the decisive set. Kerber also fought doggedly, but had to take a treatment break after the break to make it 2: 3 and then had no longer enough to oppose it.

Petkovic had previously not found the game well against Golubic and had to run after a 4-0 deficit. Despite her subsequent increase in performance, she could not prevent the loss of the first set, but she could make the second round narrow with much more snappy body language and even earn three set balls. But right after the missed chances, she conceded the decisive break and increased the pressure on Kerber.

(SID)