AN inspirational two-day performance from Kristina Mladenovic has delivered France its first Federation Cup in 16 years, with the 41st ranked Frenchwoman shocking the Australian crowd, coming from behind to defeat world number one and local hero, Ash Barty, before leading her nation to the title with a strong performance in the doubles on Day 2. We recapped Day 1 yesterday for a full wrap.

After both Mladenovic and Barty dominated on Day 1, all eyes were on the court on Sunday afternoon with the pair going head-to-head. It looked to be anticlimactic at first, as Barty raced to a 6-2 first set lead, serving up four aces and proving too strong on her serve. The score did not tell the full story however, with the Australian young gun only winning five more points than her opponent, and making the most of her break point opportunities (two from two). Mladenovic’s strength at the net was still on show, winning both net point opportunities. Despite the Frenchwoman’s serve looking a little shaky at times with three double faults in the second set, she was going all or nothing, recording a first serve percentage of 70 per cent, or which she won 69 per cent of those points. While Barty was dominating on her forehand with seven big winners, Mladenovic’s balanced approach – three winners on forehand and backhand – gave her an advantage and Barty made 18 unforced errors in an uncharacteristic performance. The 6-4 second set win to Mladenovic levelled the game and then she backed it up in a see-sawing third set which saw both players break twice.

Both Barty and Mladenovic were serving at a lower percentage with just 66 and 51 per cent of their first serves in, but it was Mladenovic’s 75 to 55 per cent of those points won that was the difference off serve, while it was again the unforced errors count that stood out on the stats sheet. Mladenovic hit just eight unforced errors to Barty’s 21, with both players going toe-for-toe in terms of winners, and it took until the tiebreak for Mladenovic to finally get home, in what was a one-sided tiebreak, winning 7-1 and throw a spanner in Australia’s plans.

No-one at RAC Arena had expected Barty to drop a game, perhaps not even the French side. It led to France knowing they had a game in hand and chose to rest second player Caroline Garcia and sent in the experienced Pauline Parmentier to play Ajla Tomljanovic. While the game was itself went the way of the Australian, it was not one of the cleaner matches, as the pair hit just 19 winners for the match compared to a whopping 52 unforced errors. Tomljanovic’s serve was troubling Parmentier, putting down seven aces to four in the game, and while her first serve percentage was a low 52 per cent, Tomljanovic won 80 per cent of her points off her second serve, and hit a balanced six-five forehand-backhand winner ratio while the Frenchwoman did not hit a backhand winner all game. The final score was 6-4 7-5 with the Australian bouncing back from her 6-1 6-1 loss the day before to grab a win in her debut Fed Cup match. The result also meant that the doubles was live, with Garcia joining Mladenovic on court, while Barty and Stosur headed to the other end.

The Australian crowd was up and about early as the green and gold team targeted the 278th ranked Garcia early, identifying her as the weak link with the world number two in the format, Mladenovic by her side. Garcia dropped her serve and Barty quickly won the second game to set up a 2-0 lead, before the French pair found a weakness on the Australian side. Stosur having not played all weekend was still rusty, missing drop shots and looking uncertain as to when to cross for the volley which saw France break back and then hold serve, with the set continuing on serve from that point. It was not until 4-4, when Garcia held and then some perfectly timed winners from Mladenovic saw them break Barty and take the set 6-4. An early break in the second all but sealed up the game and the title for the French, racing to 3-0 and while the Aussies had four chances to break, could not convert, where France delivered the break point blow early. The visitors came close to breaking Stosur in the penultimate game, but the experienced Australian held firm and forced Mladenovic to serve out the game, which she did after going 15-30 down in that final game.

It was a memorable weekend for Mladenovic who backed up her WTA Finals doubles title by leading her nation to the Fed Cup title. In the doubles, she and Garcia hit a whopping 19 winners to Australia’s seven, with the world number two giving Garcia confidence which grew as the game went on. Garcia began hitting ridiculous cross-court bullets then evaded Stosur and Barty at the net, confusing the Australians and looking in sync with her partner. While both sides were strong on serve, it was the French who won 67 per cent of first serve points compared to the Australians’ 55 per cent. It was a bitter blow to the home side’s campaign of winning its first title since 1974, but full credit to the French, and in particular Mladenovic who played the weekend of her life.