Inexperienced Czech team to face US in Fed Cup semifinals
Defending champion Czech Republic will be without its major stars in next week’s Fed Cup semifinals against the United States.
An inexperienced team of Katerina Siniakova, Kristyna Pliskova, Denisa Allertova and Marketa Vondrousova has been selected for the April 22-23 series on an outdoor clay court at Saddlebrook Resort in Florida.
Pliskova and Vondrousova are newcomers while Siniakova and Allertova have played Fed Cup doubles once before.
Karolina Pliskova, Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova, who helped the Czechs win five of the past six Fed Cup titles, are not available.
The Czechs will also miss Petra Kvitova because of injuries she suffered during a knife attack in December.
The winner advances to the Fed Cup final on Nov. 11-12.
Second-seeded Suarez Navarro advances to 2nd round at Biel
Second-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro eased to a 6-1, 6-2 win over 86th-ranked American Julia Boserup in the Biel Ladies Open first round on Wednesday.
The 23rd-ranked Spaniard, who got a wild card to enter an indoor hard-court event making its WTA Tour debut, forced six breaks of serve for victory in 68 minutes.
Seventh-seeded Julie Goerges of Germany advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Oceane Dodin of France 6-4, 6-3.
All four second-round matches Wednesday were won in straight sets.
Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic beat Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-1, 6-2; Elise Mertens of Belgium beat Mona Barthel of Germany 6-2, 6-4; and Anett Kontaveit of Estonia won 6-3, 62 against Evgeniya Rodina of Russia.
Coric into quarterfinals after scare in Morocco
Last year’s finalist Borna Coric saved eight break points to beat local wild card Reda El Amrani and reach the quarterfinals at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Wednesday.
Ranked 667th in the world, El Amrani hit six aces and broke Coric three times but struggled with his own serve and eventually lost 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5) in more than 2 ½ hours.
Coric rallied from 5-3 down in the decider and tweeted afterward: “Very difficult match today. Didn’t play my best, but hats off to Reda El Amrani. Survived, going to be back for more on Friday.”
Also advancing at the claycourt tournament were fifthseeded Paolo Lorenzi and sixthseeded Benoit Paire, who both made it to the second round.
Belarus unchanged for Fed Cup semifinals against Switzerland
Belarus named an unchanged team for the Fed Cup semifinals against Switzerland on Wednesday, without a single player in the top 100.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich leads a team also featuring Aryna Sabalenka, Olga Govortsova and Vera Lapko, the squad which beat the Netherlands 4-1 in the first round.
Belarus’ best-known player, former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, isn’t available for the April 22-23 series in Minsk. She will return to action in July after giving birth to her first child.
Switzerland later named its quartet, including No. 22 Timea Bacsinszky, 54th-ranked Viktorija Golubic and Belinda Bencic.
Although Bencic was ranked No. 7 just over a year ago, the 20-year-old player has slumped to No. 131.
Former No. 1 Martina Hingis, now 36, was selected to play doubles in pursuit of a first Swiss title in Fed Cup.
Switzerland is looking to reach only its second final, and first since 1998 when a teenage Hingis was ranked No. 1.