Fed Cup Archives • Milan Hutera Photography

09/02/202009/02/2020 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2020 World Group Play Offs Slovakia: Great Britain

Fed Cup entered into a new era during the first week of February 2020. Sixteen World Group teams competed to secure the spot in the newly established Fed Cup Finals, held in Budapest, Hungary. Slovakia hosted Great Britain and managed to win the tie 3:1. Tie details and results here.

Note: Unfortunately they haven’t invented a way, so one person can be two places at the same time. Due to other comittment, I was unable to capture the deciding match between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Hariett Dart. I’m hoping to catch more Fed Cup action in Budapest in April…

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23/04/201923/04/2019 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2019 World Group 2 Play Offs – Slovakia : Brazil

On April 20 – 21st, Team Slovakia played against Team Brazil during the 2019 Fed Cup Play Offs. The winning team would secure the position among top 16 Tennis teams of the World. It was also the last Fed Cup tie for Dominika Cibulkova. She decided to retire from Fed Cup and other team competitions in front of the home fans after playing in Fed Cup for 14 years.

Results: Dominika Cibulkova : Carolina Alves – 6:1, 6:1. Viktoria Kuzmova : Beatriz Haddad Maia – 6:3, 6:3. Dominika Cibulkova : Beatriz Haddad Maia – 7:6, 6:0, Viktoria Kuzmova, Rebecca Sramkova : Carolina Alves, Luisa Stefani – 1:6, 3:6.

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13/02/201813/02/2018 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2018 – Slovakia : Russia

On February 10. – 11. Team Slovakia played the Fed Cup 2018 World Group II tie against Team Russia. In the battle of young and upcoming players, Team Slovakia managed to win against Team Russia for the first time in 25 years in tennis team competitions. Viktoria Kuzmova made her debut in Team Slovakia, playing two rubbers. On Sunday, she recorded her first Fed Cup victory and secured the historic win for her team.

Team Slovakia: Magdalena Rybarikova, Viktoria Kuzmova, Jana Cepelova, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
Team Russia: Natalia Vikhlyantseva, Anna Kalinskaya, Anastasia Potapova, Veronika Kudermetova.

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26/04/201727/04/2017 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2017 – Slovakia : Netherlands

Slovak Fed Cup Team Played the 2017 Fed Cup World Group Play Off Tiea against Team Netherlands on April 22. – 23. Due to the injury of Dominika Cibulkova, the Dutch led by World No. 20 Kiki Bertens were a favorite of this match. In the end, Bertens and Richel Hogenkamp managed to secure 3 necessary points. Netherlands won the tie 3:2 and advanced to the 2018 Fed Cup World Group 1.

Prior to Sunday’s matches, Daniela Hantuchova received Fed Cup Commitment Award as the first female tennis player from Slovakia. It is awarded to players who have shown long-standing dedication to Fed Cup competition and played a minimum of 20 World Group ties or 40 ties at any level of the competition over the career. Daniela has been playing in Fed Cup since 1999 and she led the Slovak team to Fed Cup Victory in 2002.

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17/02/201417/02/2014 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2014 World Group 1 – Slovakia versus Germany

First two weeks of february 2014 were all about tennis. Both Slovak Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams hosted their oponents in Bratislava. The women’s Fed Cup World Group 1 tie against Germany was certainly more prestigious one. Both teams had some amazing players in their line-ups. Team Slovakia consisted of 2014 Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova, two-times Fed Cup Heart Award winner Daniela Hantuchova, Magdalena Rybarikova and Jana Cepelova. The Germans arrived with World No. 9 Angelique Kerber, former Top 10 member Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges and doubles specialist Anna-Lena Groenefeld. The Germans were supposed to be even stronger, but Wimbledon 2013 finalist Sabine Lisicki was not able to play due to injury.

Although the Germans won the tie 3:1, the matches were very close. In the opening match, Dominika Cibulkova won the first set against Andrea Petkovic 6:2. In second set tie-break, Dominika was trailing 1:6, managed to come back and lead 7:6, but Petkovic managed to win both tie-break and the match. Daniela Hantuchova then lost her match to German No. 1 Angelique Kerber in two sets. The first set was decided in tie-break and Angelique Kerber needed 11 points to secure the first set.

The Sunday’s battle of the leaders was again decided in tie-break. Angelique Kerber managed to win against Dominika Cibulkova 6:3, 7:6 and the German team advanced to the Fed Cup World Group 1 Semifinals. In the last match of the tie, Magdalena Rybarikova and Jana Cepelova secured the only Slovak point after a three set victory over Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld. Luck was certainly on the German side this time, maybe because they played like a team, did their pre-match ritual like a team and celebrated the victory like a team.

The results:
Andrea Petkovic defeated Dominika Cibulkova 2:6, 7:6, 6:2
Angelique Kerber defeated Daniela Hantuchova 7:6, 6:1
Angelique Kerber defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6:3, 7:6
Magdalena Rybarikova, Jana Cepelova defeated Julia Goerges, Anna-Lena Groenefeld 4:6, 6:3, 10:7

Some of my favorite photos from the weekend are below (click on the photo to see slightly larger version).

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06/02/201307/02/2013 by Milan Hutera

Daniela Hantuchova in Fed Cup

This weekend, the first round of 2013 edition of Fed Cup (the most prestigious women’s team competition in tennis) will take place all over the world. I decited to dedicate a few photos to the player that started it all for me. Eleven years ago I watched Daniela Hantuchova in a nerve-wrecking final match against Conchita Martinez of Spain. I became a fan and dreamed that once I’ll be able to photograph such an event. We’ve been waiting for another title ever since. But over the years, I’ve been able to take some nice photos of Daniela in various Fed Cup ties. Good luck against Serbia this weekend!

2012 – vs. France