US take 2-0 lead in Fed Cup
AFP
AFP, BRISBANE: Christina McHale and Madison Keys won the opening singles rubbers to give the United States a commanding 2-0 lead in their Fed Cup World Group play-off tie against Australia on Saturday.
After Keys beat Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-2 in the opening tie, McHale came from a set down to upset Australian number one Samantha Stosur 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.
The US needs to win only one of Sundays three matches to book their place in the World Group in 2017, while a loss for Australia would see them remain in World Group II.
US captain Mary Joe Fernandez said the Americans wouldnt take anything for granted heading into Sundays matches.
Its not going to be easy every match is close, you can make a case for each team in every match, Fernandez said.
Stosur had looked certain to level the tie when she took the first set against McHale, who was a surprise pick to play the singles ahead of higher-ranked Coco Vandeweghe.
But the Australian imploded at the start of the second set, losing 17 of 18 points, and 13 in a row, to surrender the set in just 26 minutes.
It was a pretty bad start (to the set) and that kind of gave her all the momentum from that point on, said Stosur. Stosur regained her composure and the third set was much closer, but the steadier McHale always appeared to have the edge over the former US Open champion, who hit a total of 44 unforced errors.
Stosur battled hard, but she eventually dropped her serve at 5-5 and McHale calmly served out the match, clinching victory with a forehand down the line. McHale said she and Stosur had similar styles of play with both favouring big forehand groundstrokes.
She was doing it better than me in the first part of the match but then I was able to run around my forehand as the match went on.
Earlier, Keys overpowered newly-qualified Australian Gavrilova, using her booming forehand to full effect on the purpose-built clay court on Pat Rafter Arena.
