ON day two of our Fantasy Fed Cup tournament, the third and fourth seeds in United States and Czech Republic also won their opening matches, but in very different circumstances. The United States breezed past Slovakia 3-0 not every dropping a set, while the Czech Republic bounced back from an opening match loss to win 2-1 thanks to the doubles.

UNITED STATES (3) defeated SLOVAKIA (0)

There was little room for error from the 10th ranked Slovakians who were comprehensively smashed by the third seeds. A strong one-two punch from Australian Open winners, Sofia Kenin and Serena Williams saw them easily dominate the singles, before Kenin and her WTA Tour doubles partner, Bethanie Mattek-Sands took control from the start in the third match of the day.

Earlier in the day, Kenin left no prisoners in her singles match, winning six consecutive games after her opponent, Viktoria Kuzmova won her opening service game. It was a bit closer in the second set after Kuzmova opened with another service game win, with the scores being 3-3 at one stage. Kenin broke in the seventh game, then held serve to move 5-3 up, and while Kuzmova forced the top five star to serve out the match, that is exactly what the 2020 Australian Open winner did, taking it out 6-1 6-4.

It was completely one-way traffic in the second game between Williams and her much lower ranked opponent Magdalena Rybarikova. After being 1-1 in the first set, Williams plowed through the match, winning 11 of the next 12 games to run away with the contest 6-1 6-1 and hand United States the tie. Not taking any chances, the Americans put their top doubles pairing in the match with Kenin and Mattek-Sands bursting out of the blocks against Kuzmova and Tereza Mihalikova. They won the first five games of the match and eventually won the set 6-1, before winning the final four game of the match after being 2-2 at one stage for a 6-1 6-2 victory.

Sofia Kenin (USA) defeated Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK) 6-1 6-4
Serena Williams (USA) defated Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 6-1 6-1
S. Kenin / B. Mattek-Sands (USA) defeated V. Kuzmova / T. Mihalikova (SVK) 6-1 6-2

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CZECH REPUBLIC (2) defeated SWITZERLAND (1)

The second match of the day in Budapest was set to be much tighter and that is exactly what spectators got. Up first was a clash between two top 10 players in Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic. The first set saw the players trading blow, with the first three games resulting in breaks, before Bencic became the first player to hold her serve in the fourth game. A break up at 5-3, Pliskova crucially held and then broke in the 10th game to force the game into another two. It was Bencic who stepped up in this time with the young Swiss taking out the set with an immediate break back and a hold to win the set 7-5. The second set was a little easier for Bencic who won four consecutive games to lead 5-2 at one stage, before eventually triumphing 7-5 6-3 to hand Switzerland the lead.

It was a crucial result as world number 12, Petra Kvitova took on the top 100 Swiss up-and-comer in Jil Teichmann. It did not go well for the latter, as Kvitova went full out in her desperation to ensure the fourth seeded side levelled the terms, winning 11 of the 12 games, 6-1 6-0 in less than an hour of play. That form gave the Czech Republc confidence going into the doubles with their pairing of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova ranked inside the top 10 in the format and regular partners. They were coming up against Bencic and Viktorija Golubic who both played doubles, but were nowhere near the same level. After a spirited first set by the Swiss, forcing them to an 11th game after breaking to go 5-5, the Czechs would storm home, winning eight of the next nine games to reel off a big win 7-5 6-1 and take out the tie 2-1. The one benefit for Switzerland is if it can knock off Spain in a couple of days and Spain defeat Czech Republic, then that extra match won could come in handy.

Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 7-5 6-3
Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated Jil Teichmann (SUI) 6-1 6-0
B. Krejcikova / K. Siniakova (CZE) defeated B. Bencic / V. Golubic (SUI) 7-5 6-1