Billie Jean King Cup: Germany out! Belinda Bencic beats Angie Kerber
Germany failed at the Billie Jean King Cup. The women under Rainer Schüttler also lost the second group game against Switzerland. In the duel between the two "ones", Olympic champion Belinda Bencic had the upper hand against Angelique Kerber.
by SID
last edit: Nov 02, 2021, 09:14 pm
The German tennis women failed at the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague after their second defeat in the group stage. The three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber sealed the end in the duel with Switzerland on Tuesday with a 7: 5, 2: 6, 2: 6 against Olympic champion Belinda Bencic before the final doubles. Previously, Andrea Petkovic had to admit defeat to Viktorija Golubic 4: 6, 5: 7 in the first individual.
The selection of the German Tennis Association (DTB) had already lost 1: 2 against the host Czech Republic on Monday. 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 reach.
Bitter defeat against the Czech Republic
As on the evening before 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, on the other hand, showed weaknesses for the first time at 5: 6 - which immediately punished the German number one.
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 obviously not been able to counter it enough.
Petkovic is subject to Golubi
Petkovic had 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 immediately after the missed chances, she conceded the decisive break and increased the pressure on Kerber.