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Wozniak’s 40th Fed Cup victory a record for Canadians
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DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Czech Republic's Petra Klitova was upset by Romania's Monica Niculescu in their Fed Cup match in Bucharest.
QUEBEC—Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak downed Ola Govortsova in straight sets Saturday to even Canada’s first-round tie with Belarus at 1-1 on the first day of the Fed Cup.
The Blainville, Que., native upset Belarus’s top player 6-2, 6-2. The victory came after Montreal’s Francoise Abanda lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the opening match.
Wozniak, who missed last year’s Fed Cup after having shoulder surgery, secured her 40th victory at the international tournament to make her the winningest player in Canadian Fed Cup history.
“My focus was to play one point at a time and compete on each one and I think I did that well,” Wozniak said. “I haven’t played a lot of matches in my comeback so I am very pleased that I was able to play at that level.”
Canada and Belarus enter Sunday needing two victories to win the best-of-five tie.
The winner will advance into a World Group playoff in April, while the loser will compete in a World Group II playoff tie to avoid relegation into the zonal groups.
Playing one week after claiming her first Grand Slam title with an three-set victory over Serena Williams in Melbourne, the world No. 2 wrapped up the first set in 30 minutes and then converted her fifth match point to beat the 15th-ranked Bacsinszky in one hour, 14 minutes.
“There’s nothing to complain about,” Germany captain Barbara Rittner said of Kerber. “There has been such unbelievable development. She is now really the No. 1 that you’d want.”
Belinda Bencic earlier defeated Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-4 to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead.
The reverse singles are scheduled for Sunday, to be followed by the doubles rubber that should see Australian Open doubles champion Martina Hingis in action for Switzerland.
In the first singles, Karolina Pliskova overcame Simona Halep 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 for the first time, in a match lasting more than 2 ½ hours in the Transylvanian city of Cluj.
Kvitova, who has won 26 of her 33 Fed Cup singles, including seven of the last eight, was expected to extend the Czechs’ advantage, but she committed 46 unforced errors against Niculescu’s 12.
“You were wonderful, without you I couldn’t have done it,” Niculescu told the crowd.
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