German Fed Cup captain Barbara Rittner was clearly disappointed after losing to Russia 3-2 in the Fed Cup semifinals. Though Germany came back from an 0-2 deficit to even the tie at 2-2, Russia’s Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Andrea Petkovic and Sabine Lisicki in straight sets to win the deciding doubles match.
Rittner had chosen the lower-ranked Lisicki and Julie Georges to play singles on the first day; they lost to Pavlyuchenkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively. However, both Petkovic and Angelique Kerber had asked not to play on Saturday because they were tired from playing Charleston the week before.
On Sunday, Petkovic crushed Kuznetsova, 6-1, 6-2, and Kerber nearly shut out Pavlyuchenkova, 6-0, 6-1. But the fifth rubber did not work out for the Germans.
Germany fell in the final to the Czech Republic last year. With Maria Sharapova pulling out for Russia, Germany said they thought they had a real chance to win the tie. But a number of German journalists criticized Rittner for not using Petkovic—who is hurt and just pulled out of Stuttgart—or Kerber on the first day. "We were not rewarded in the end," Rittner said. "The disappointment is immeasurable… At some point we will win this f---ing thing."