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2018 Fed Cup, April 22 World Group Playoffs, Rubber 3 WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong, NSW Daria Gavrilova vs Quirine Lemoine |
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A straight-sets win from Daria Gavrilova has given Australia the overall win in the Fed Cup encounter with the Netherlands.
Final score
Daria Gavrilova 6 6
Quirine Lemoine 3 2
Australian Daria Gavrilova will look to turn around some messy early season form and a poor Fed Cup record when she takes on Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands, who is in an almost must-win position. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the fourth rubber from around 1:30pm (AEST).
With things locked at one match a piece after the first day’s play in this World Group Playoff tie, this match will be an opportunity for one nation to avoid doubles and advance in four, pending on who won the third rubber between Ashleigh Barty and Lesley Kerkhove earlier in the day.
Thanks to an upset on Day 1, Australia will need to win two matches today, rather than simply rocking up and knocking the tie over early.
Australia announced last night on Twitter that Daria Gavrilova would replace Samantha Stosur for the reverse singles today after the latter was upset in the first rubber yesterday by Kerkhove.
The change was always going to happen, with Stosur and Barty slated to play doubles together, should a fifth rubber be needed to decide the tie later this afternoon.
NOMINATION CHANGE | World No.24 @Daria_gav will play the second singles rubber against @quirinelemoine.
The doubles nominations remain unchanged with @ashbar96 / @bambamsam30 to take on Dutch pair @DemiSchuurs and Indy De Vroome.#AUSNED #FedCup pic.twitter.com/K8AhOOlDsC
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) April 21, 2018
Gavrilova is, at the present time a much stronger singles player, particularly on the hard court, than Stosur, despite a poor run of form recently. She will need to turn it around, but taking on the world No.295 Lemoine, wouldn’t be expected to have too many problems.
Since the Australian Open, where she was beaten off the court by Elise Mertens in the second round, inconsistency has hampered Gavrilova.
The Russian-turned-Aussie lost both her matches on grass during Australia’s World Group II tie against the Ukraine, then made the semi-finals at Acapulco. Since then, she hasn’t won more than one match at any of her last three tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami or Charleston.
While her form isn’t amazing, it’s difficult to assess the game of Lemoine, given she has battled some injuries and played lower tournaments due to her ranking.
She lost in the first round of qualification for the 2017 US Open and has since won a handful of matches, but as proven yesterday against Barty, none of them prepared her to take on some of the best players in the world. While Barty is hitting the ball well and was never going to be beaten, Gavrilova’s singles Fed Cup record of two wins and five losses is somewhat concerning for the Australian team.
Prediction
Gavrilova isn’t going to lose this. It would come as a major surprise if she didn’t, however, her tendency to have lapses when under pressure might come into the match. Expect long sets with plenty of errors from the Aussie, who will eventually get the job done.
Gavrilova in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the match from around 1:30pm (AEST) or at the completion of the third rubber between Ashleigh Barty and Lesley Kerkhove and don’t forget to add a comment below.