Russia leads 2-0 over Italy in the Fed Cup Group II at the CSKA Moscow Indoor complex.
Anastasia Potavova came back from losing the first set to edge Martina Trevisan 2-6 6-3 6-1 in the opening match, before Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova battled past Jasmine Paolini 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4).
In the opening match Trevisan built up a 6-2 2-0 lead and looked in control of the match, but Potapova reeled off the next five games to take a 5-2 lead. Trevisan broke back in the eighth game of the second set, but Potapova closed it out with a backhand winner. Potapova held serve in the first game at deuce and got three breaks of serve to cruise through to a 6-1 win in the decider.
“I must thank this wonderful crowd for their support. The task for me was to put my first serve in and I finally got it going in the third game of the second set”, said Potapova.
In the second match Trevisan broke serve in the seventh game with a backhand crosscourt winner to take a 5-2 lead. Pavlyuchenkova broke back before winning the tie-break 7-5.
Paolini earned an early break to open up a 3-1 lead at the start of the second set. Pavlyuchenkova broke back with a backhand drop volley. Both players traded breaks. Pavlyuchenkova held serve for 6-5, as Paolini sent a forehand long. Paolini held serve at love to set up a second tie-brek. Paolini clawed her way back to 4-5 in the tie-break, but Pavlyuchenkova won the final two points to win the tie-break 7-4.
“Both matches were super tough. The Fed Cup is a specific tournament, as players rankings often don’t reflect what’s happening on the court”, said Russian captain Igor Andreev.
