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(Ostend, Belgium) Kirsten Flipkens won the opening match of the Fed Cup meeting between Belgium and the USA. The Belgian defeated Jill Craybas to give her country a 1-0 lead. Flipkens needed three sets to overcome the 32-year-old veteran Craybas, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Flipkens had a very good start and took a 4-1 lead in the first set after she broke Craybas in the fourth game. The American fought herself back into the match and could tie 4-all after she broke in the seventh game. Craybas had the better side of the game after that, and Flipkens started to hit errors. In the 11th game, Craybas hit two winners and when Flipkens hit a double fault on 30-40, the American broke the Belgian service game. Leading 6-5, Craybas served for the first set and won it when Flipkens hit the net on 40-15.

In the second set Flipkens broke Craybas service in the fourth game, and after winning her own service game on love, she took a 4-1 lead. This time she did not hand over the lead and held on to her service. The 20-year-old Belgian broke again in the eighth game and took the second set 6-2 with a solid winner.

Leading 4-0, Flipkens again handed over her comfortable lead. Craybas again came back into the match after Flipkens started to hit errors and double faults on crucial points. The American broke in the fifth and the seventh game and tied 4-all

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Craybas lost against Flipkens
Flipkens held on to her service game for 5-4, and Craybas had to hold on to her service to stay in the match. The Belgian started with a running forehand winner. Craybas tied 15-all with a backhand winner. Flipkens hit a moon ball, and the American did not find the right answer to that. Flipkens hit another forehand winner for 15-30 and got her first match point when Craybas hit a backhand wide for 30-40.

The Belgian backhand went long for deuce. With a beautiful stopvolley, she got her second matchpoint. Again Craybas turned it to deuce. She also took the next points and held advantage but could not convert them into winning the game.

After 2 hours and 10 minutes, Flipkens got her fourth match point, this time she took it with a smash and won the match 5-7, 6-2 and 6-4.

“It was a tough match mentally,” Flipkens said. “After I took the lead and then letting it slip away, but I proved to myself that I can handle that mentally now. When you lead 4-0 on grass you are sure you win the match, and here anything could happen. Maybe I played too defensive on 4-0.

“I played a good match, but my service and my returns were not that good. It’s difficult to play against Craybas. She is using the speed of the balls good on returns, and she moves very well on court, so I could not come to the net as much as I wanted.

“My victory is only one point, but it could be the most important point of the weekend. The crowd helped me a lot with the good moments, and they helped me through the bad moments.

“I was really happy with the smash on matchpoint, it came from so high that I had all the time to think about how to play it. I knew I would win the match if I just hit it right.”

Technorati Tags: double faults, Fed Cup 2006, fed cup, forehand, matchpoint, ostend belgium, service game

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 2:57 am and is filed under News, Fed Cup 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.