LAST year’s finalists and 2020 Fed Cup top seeds, France and Australia have won their opening games on day one of the Draft Central Fantasy Fed Cup tournament. The reigning champions France made relative light work of host nation Hungary, whilst Australia had a fair fight against Belgium to get through unscathed.

FRANCE (3) defeated HUNGARY (0)

France started off its Fed Cup defence with a comfortable win over host nation Hungary on day one. Last year’s hero, Kristina Mladenovic managed to overcome the tricky Timea Babos in relative comfort 6-2 6-2. Having to break her on the final game of the first set helped the Frenchwoman to set herself up for a strong second set which included three breaks to one. She served at a reliable 65 per cent and won 68 per cent of her first serve points, to get the job done in around an hour and 20 minutes.

With Hungary’s second ranked played outside the top 200, Caroline Garcia was rested and Alize Cornet – ranked 59th in the world – was brought in to get some court time against Reka-Luca Jani. It went about as expected, with Garcia racing to a 5-0 lead, before being broken, though bouncing back to win 6-2 in the first set. The second set was much of the same, racing out to a 4-1 lead to eventually win in straight sets, 6-2 6-2.

The doubles featured two stars of the format, with third ranked Mladenovic coming up against fourth ranked Babos. They renewed their friendly hostilities in what was a dead rubber, with the two leading their relatively lesser known doubles teammates through a three-set thriller. In the end, it was tighter than France would have liked, leading 4-0 and 5-2 at one stage, before Babos stepped it up a notch to level the the scores t 5-5 and then again at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. In the end, it went the way of the French 10-8 in the first set tiebreaker. Spurred on by that first set disappointment, the Hungarians hit back in the second set to win four consecutive games at 2-3 down to win the set, then France restored the status quo in the third to take out the match 7-6 3-6 6-2 and sweep the tie.

Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) defeated Timea Babos (HUN) 6-3 6-2
Alize Cornet (FRA) defeated Reka-Luca Jani (HUN) 6-2 6-2
K. Mladenovic / C. Garcia (FRA) defeated T. Babos / R. Jani (HUN) 7-6 3-6 6-2

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AUSTRALIA (3) defeated BELGIUM (0)

Belgium was considered one of the danger teams coming into the Fed Cup, and one that could very well push Australia all the way. Whilst the Aussies ultimately got the job done 3-0, it was not without plenty of fight from their Belgian opposition. The first match of the tie saw world number one, Ash Barty have to fight back from a strong start and a break down against Elise Mertens to win the last 10 games of the match and remind spectators of just how dominant she can be on her day. Trailing 2-4 in the first set, Barty went into beast mode and piled on the next four games of the first set to take it 6-4, then ran amok in the second set to not give Mertens a chance at victory. The Australian piled on the pressure and ran out a 6-0 6-4 winner to hand her side the best possible start to the Fed Cup.

The second match was anticipated to be a thriller and it lived up to expectations. With both players ranked just one rank apart on the WTA Tour world rankings, it was no surprise to see Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic and Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck going the full distance for more than three hours. Van Uytvanck broke early in the first set to race to a 5-2 lead, and whilst Tomljanovic fought back with a break of her own, it was a case of too little, too late for the Australian as the Belgian went one-up with a 6-4 first set triumph. It was a similar story in the second set with Van Uytvanck on the verge of closing out the match in straight sets. She led 4-2 at one stage and a break in-hand, before Tomljanovic fought back to force it past 5-5 and then broke in the eleventh game to serve out the set 7-5. The final set was just as close, with the Australian this time getting the upper hand, winning four consecutive games to lead 4-1, before the Belgian fought back and soon it was 5-5. But yet again Tomljanovic stepped up when it counted to win the final two games of the set, breaking in the eleventh game again and then taking out the match 4-6 7-5 7-5.

Coming into the doubles, Australia was tempted to blood debutant Maddison Inglis alongside the experienced Sam Stosur, but considering the strength of the Belgian duo of Mertens and Kristen Flipkens – both ranked inside the top 30 – the Aussies resisted and handed Barty another outing on court. It proved a strong choice, with Australia getting up in three sets – but not without some nervous moments. The match might have been a dead rubber for this tie, but in the scenario that each team in the group won a tie, it would then go to matches, sets then games, so everything counted. Barty and Stosur seemed to have control in the first set, breaking twice and only being broken one saw them take out the first set 6-3. They then moved to a 3-1 lead early in the second before the Belgians hit back with five of the next six games to steal the set and level the match. Mertens and Flipkens were teaming up well and again took an early lead to move to 3-1 in the third and then 5-3 serving for the match. But once again the Aussies capitalised, breaking back and then holding serve to move to 5-5. Mertens held her serve in the eleventh game, as did Barty the following match to send it into a tiebreaker. The deciding tiebreaker was an absolute thriller, with the teams trading winners until Australia finally got up 15-13 with a perfect volley from Stosur cross-court with angle to win the match, and the tie.

Ash Barty (AUS) defeated Elise Mertens (BEL) 6-4 6-0
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) defeated Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 4-6 7-5 7-5
A. Barty / S. Stosur (AUS) defeated E. Mertens / K. Flipkens (BEL) 6-3 4-6 7-6