KA’ANAPALI, Maui >> Once tennis started at Saturday’s Fed Cup quarterfinal, the U.S. team looked great. That didn’t come close to making up for an astonishingly awful start at Royal Lahaina Tennis Ranch.
Hawaii’s second straight year of hosting the women’s version of Davis Cup opened with an old version of Germany’s National Anthem being sung, reportedly by mistake. Those lyrics were changed after WWII.
Germany’s players looked at each other in shock, then just wrapped their arms around each other. The small group of German fans tried to drown out the performance by singing present-day verses.
Andrea Petkovic, who lost to 40th-ranked American Allison Riske in the opening match, was born in Bosnia but moved to Germany as a child. Petkovic, playing in her eighth Fed Cup, called it “the epitome of ignorance and I never felt more disrespected in my whole life.”
Later, in German, she added “This is 2017 in America. How can something like that happen? It’s not Timbuktu.”
Riske was tearfully happy about her 7-6 (12-10), 6-2 victory over Petkovic, ranked 51st, and nearly as emotional about the terrible start to the extremely windy and rainy opening day.
She said the Americans had no idea what was happening while the wrong anthem was being sung. When they discovered the gravity of the situation, she called it “extremely unfortunate. We have nothing but respect for the German team. Obviously that will not happen again.”
The U.S. Tennis Association issued a release extending its “sincerest apologies to the German Fed Cup team and all of its fans for the performance of an outdated National Anthem prior to today’s Fed Cup competition. In no way did we mean any disrespect.”
The controversy made the absence of top-ranked Serena Williams and her 11th-ranked sister Venus from the U.S. team, and second-ranked Angelique Kerber from Germany, seem trivial.
Riske did her best to make those losses mean little as well. The quality of her game in the pivotal match — it was the 26-year-old’s first Fed Cup win — was remarkably high considering the gusty, swirling winds that blasted the court.
Petkovic’s quality was just as high for one dramatic, roller-coaster of a 70-minute first set.
In the second singles match, 20th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe picked up where she left off in the Australian Open, when she upset Kerber to reach the semifinals.
She won the first set over 57th-ranked Julia Goerges, 6-3, before a 42-minute rain delay. Vandeweghe was ahead 3-1 in the second when rain began again and Goerges slipped on the baseline, hurting her knee.
There would be another rain — and medical — delay. The players came back out to warm up, but never started again when the first hard rain of the day let loose.
If Vandeweghe wins out in this morning’s 9:30 continuation of the suspended match, the U.S. needs one more win to advance to semifinals. Vandeweghe and Riske play again in reverse singles matches today. Doubles is last, with Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands against Laura Siegemund and Carina Witthoeft.
The winner here plays the winner of the first-round match between top-ranked Czech Republic and ninth-ranked Spain in April. At No. 10, the U.S. is the lowest-ranked team in the World Group (final eight of 107 nations).
Riske’s win gives the Americans a great shot at it. Down 3-5 in the first set, she broke Petkovic and took it to a tiebreaker. Rain delayed it for 20 minutes at 3-all, then Riske won it on her fourth set point. Petkovic had two.
“It wasn’t a big deal, it was such a quick break,” Riske said. “I just tried to be the one that was more aggressive in the tiebreaker because usually that person is the one who’s going to win.
“After that, I felt like I was in a better place mentally.”
Obviously. After another rain delay, Riske took the first five games of the second set, winning 12 of the first 13 points.
Petkovic characterized Riske’s second set as “fantastic” and was left to regret missed opportunities earlier.
“Maybe a little unlucky in a few moments,” she shrugged. “Maybe a few mistakes that shouldn’t have happened in the important moments.”
She called the Maui crowd “loud and euphoric.” Riske felt the home crowd warmed to the task after being a bit shy in the beginning.
“I felt like if I looked at the crowd and just smiled everyone would erupt,” she said. “I’m like, oh my gosh, can these people come everywhere? They were awesome. Usually you give a smile and don’t know what the heck the crowd is going to do.”
Tennis Channel will air the final day live from 9:30 this morning. For updated ticket and other information, visit usta.com/fedcup.
The Americans are in World Group for the first time since 2014, trying to reach their first semifinal since 2010. The Germans are trying to reach the semifinals for the third time in four years.
