SOCHI, Russia (AP) β Russia and Germany’s Fed Cup semifinal headed to a decisive doubles rubber Sunday after Angelique Kerber thrashed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Playing for the first time in the best-of-five World Group tie and needing to win to keep Germany in the semifinal, Kerber swept Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova away in a 6-1, 6-0 win that lasted just 52 minutes.
“I knew I had to go out there and just get the point. Obviously I was a bit nervous,” Kerber said. “I played aggressively from start to finish and I got energy from my team.”
The win sets up a doubles decider pitting Germany’s Andrea Petkovic and Sabine Lisicki against Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina for Russia after both captains made late replacements.
For Pavlyuchenkova, it will be her third match in two days.
Earlier Sunday, Petkovic beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets to reduce Russia’s lead over Germany to 2-1.
Petkovic hit 20 winners as she won 6-2, 6-1 in 1 hour, 21 minutes, while Kuznetsova struggled, landing fewer than half of her first serves.
Petkovic said she had fought exhaustion all week and was still only at 80 percent, so played aggressively to avoid the strain of a deciding set.
“I don’t want to know what would have happened if it would have gone three sets,” she said. “It was very, very difficult, and even though it was a short match, I didn’t feel great during the match physically.”
Kuznetsova said she was overwhelmed by Petkovic’s aggressive style. “I couldn’t get out of defense into attack,” she said.
After reigning champion the Czech Republic secured victory over France in the other semifinal, a win for Germany would set up a rematch of last year’s final. If Russia qualifies, it would be a repeat of the 2011 final.
German captain Barbara Rittner entered Petkovic and Kerber as overnight replacements for the reverse singles in place of Lisicki and Julia Goerges.
On Saturday, Kuznetsova beat Goerges and Pavlyuchenkova defeated Lisicki.
