The United States started its Fed Cup campaign with a win over the German team in the first round before bad weather brought the first day to an early end.
The first match of the tie, played in Maui, Hawaii, pitted American Alison Riske against veteran Andrea Petkovic in less-than-ideal conditions. The first set contained a rain delay in the middle of the tiebreak. The seesaw match saw Riske struggle the most at first, starting with a 3-5 deficit in the first set before coming back to win the tiebreaker.
Riske ran up a 5-0 lead before Petkovic briefly mounted a challenge, winning two straight games before Riske sealed the match on a Petkovic forehand error.
It’s the first Fed Cup win for Riske, 26, who is ranked 40 in the world. Petkovic fell to 12-7 in Fed Cup play.
After the match, Riske admitted to struggling with her nerves.
“I was so nervous. I wanted to badly to win,” she said, “But I tried to fight it as best as I could. It worked in my favor today.”
The rain delay happened not only in a tiebreaker, but at 3-3 in the tiebreaker. When asked what was going through her already-rattled mind at that point, Riske responded, “I can’t believe I just double-faulted, I could have been up 4-2!”
She added that the having her first Fed Cup win was important for her, but she also wanted the victory for the new U.S. captain Kathy Rinaldi.
“We all want to win for her,” Riske said.
In the second match, Coco Vandeweghe took the first set from Julia Goerges and was up 3-1 in the second before the rain started again. The final point played ended when Goerges fell to the court after losing her footing along the baseline that might have been damp. Play is scheduled to resume again at 2:30 p.m. local time.
