By Tennis Now | Saturday, April 21, 2018

 

Kristina Mladenovic stormed back for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, triumph over CoCo Vandeweghe to level France's Fed Cup semifinal with the USA, 1-1.

Photo credit: Fed Cup Facebook

Kristina Mladenovic brought the emotional fire defusing explosive American CoCo Vandeweghe to level host France with the United States in the Fed Cup semifinals.

Blown out in the opening set, Mladenovic stormed back for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, triumph on the red clay of Arena Du Pays D'Aix in Aix-en-Provence, France to level the best-of-five match semifinal, 1-1.

More: Czech Republic in Command

It was Mladenovic's sixth straight Fed Cup singles win; she raised her Fed Cup clay-court record to 8-2. 

Mladenovic broke twice in the final set snapping Vandeweghe's eight-match Fed Cup winning streak.



US Open champion Sloane Stephens rallied from a break down in the opening set defeating Pauline Parmentier, 7-6 (3), 7-5, in two hours, 23 minutes.

The Miami Open champion served 78 percent and erased 11 of the 14 break points she faced give the defending champions a 1-0 lead.

It was Stephens' first Fed Cup win since she swept Magda Linette in the 2016 World Group II quarterfinals.

Stephens will play Mladenovic in tomorrow's opening reverse singles followed by Vandeweghe vs. Parmentier.

The French pair of Mladenovic and Amandine Hesse are scheduled to play Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Madison Keys in the doubles match that ends the semifinal.

The winnter of the France-United States semifinal will play either 10-time Fed Cup champion Czech Republic or Germany in the November 10-11th final.