French women grab Fed Cup with epic 3-2 win over Aussies
PeRTH, Australia—Kristina Mladenovic inspired France to a drought-breaking Fed Cup triumph after a nail-biting 3-2 win in the final against Australia on Sunday.
Mladenovic combined with Caroline Garcia to beat Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-3 in the decisive doubles match at Perth Arena. She produced a herculean effort on the outdoor hard court after earlier Sunday upsetting the top-ranked Barty in a three-set thriller to move France into a 2-1 lead.
French Open winner Barty’s remarkable season ended in heartbreak just one week after her historic $4.42 million triumph at the Women’s Tennis Association Finals in Shenzhen.
Former French Open doubles winners Mladenovic and Garcia broke three times to power France to their third Fed Cup title and first since 2003.
It was redemption for Mladenovic and Garcia who lost the decisive doubles match against the Czech Republic in the 2016 final.
“It’s a lot of emotion to share this with [Garcia] after we failed on the last step three years ago,” Mladenovic said. “We just wanted to take this little revenge for ourselves.”
Australia captain Alicia Molik hoped her team could rebound after losing their ninth straight decider stretching back to their last triumph in 1974.
“We will use this moment for fuel to drive us into the future,” she said.
earlier, no. 51-ranked Ajla Tomljanovic rebounded from a dispiriting performance in her Australian Fed Cup debut on Saturday against Mladenovic to record a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Pauline Parmentier in one hour and 33 minutes.
“I’m really glad I got a second chance and that I got a win,”Tomljanovic said.
France captain Julien Benneteau chose veteran Parmentier over former no. 4-ranked Garcia, who failed to win a game against Barty on Saturday, to try and clinch the tie for the visitors.
The Australian struggled to consistently land her first serve but world no.122 Parmentier could not make her pay and it was an increasingly confident Tomljanovic who grabbed the decisive break in the 10th game to take the first set.
The 26-year-old held her nerve in the second set and gained the decisive break in the 12th game to ensure Australia’s bid to end a 45-year drought remained momentarily alive.
In Sunday’s opening singles, Mladenovic stunned Barty with a nerve-wrenching 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory.
The no. 40-ranked Mladenovic started slowly before taking advantage of an errorstrewn Barty, whose 15-match Fed Cup winning streak was ended in a seesawing match lasting two hours and 31 minutes.
Mladenovic failed to close out the match on serve in the 10th game of the deciding set before dominating Barty in the tiebreak to produce arguably the best victory of her career.
In April, a revamped Fed Cup will comprise 12 teams playing over six days for an $18 million prize on clay courts in Budapest, Hungary.
THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) joined the Negros Occidental Football Association (NOFA) and the Central Luzon Football Association (CLFA) and other stakeholders to stage the Luzon Cup—a tournament for boys under-12 from November 21 to 24 at the Jose V. Yap Sports and Recreational Park in San Jose, Tarlac.
The Tarlac provincial and city governments and the Department of Education-Tarlac also banded together to support the event that encourages the holding of more age group competitions throughout the country.
Speaking as guest of honor at the event’s launching, PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said the PSC will always support associations in their events and activities for sports development especially in the regions.
Ramirez called on the private sector to help fund and promote more programs for Filipino children to get into sports.
Fifteen teams from different associations and clubs in Luzon are seeing action in the tournament. The 16th team is Mindanao Cup 2019 champion Bukidnon Football Association.
The Luzon Cup completes NOFA’s nationwide “triangle” of under-13 and under-12 tournaments, the other two being the Bacolodbased NOFA Cup and the recently concluded Mindanao Cup that NOFA organized with the Davao South Regional Football Association (DSRFA).
NOFA President Ricky Yanson said the events are in line with their “Football Para sa Lahat” vision to partner with fellow football associations to stage more tournaments for young footballers in more parts of the Philippines.
“Our dream, through ‘Football Para sa Lahat’ is to support more tournaments and activities for all age groups,”Yanson said. “We want more Filipinos to enjoy football. And we believe grassroots football development will eventually mean more lasting success in the international arena.”
Central Luzon FA General Secretary Ed Flaminiano said that the Luzon Cup is a boost to football on the island.
“Unlike in Negros Occidental, football is not marketed enough in Luzon, that is what we want to address with the help of NOFA and our other partners,” Flaminiano said. “With the Luzon Cup, we hope to extend the love for football and development opportunities for students in both the private and public schools.”