Jarmila Gajdosova made amends for her opening day defeat by securing a nail-biting win in the reverse singles as Australia trumped Switzerland 4-1 in the Fed Cup.
Following Samantha Stosur's second straight sets victory in Fribourg, Gajdosova held her nerve to defeat world number 219 Amra Sadikovic 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in two hours and 19 minutes.
Gajdosova's victory handed the tourists an unbeatable lead and Australia's doubles team of Casey Dellacqua and Jelena Dokic took out the dead rubber on the indoor clay court.
It was Gajdosova's second straight marathon match after losing an even longer contest to number 124 Stefanie Voegele on Saturday.
Australia will play one of the World Group first round losers in April for a berth in the elite eight-nation competition in 2013.
"I am happy to win the point that secures the ties for the team," Gajdosova.
"They showed faith in me and the team has been very supportive.
"The Fed Cup means a lot to me. I was so disappointed with my loss and shed a tear afterwards."
Stosur showed signs that she was emerging from her early season form slump by dismissing Voegele 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour.
The US Open champion felt she was building some momentum following her disastrous home summer.
"It has boosted my confidence and it is exactly the way I wanted to play as soon as I got over here," she said.
"You want to win as many matches as possible to erase anything negative and it does not matter the opposition, it is always good to win."
Team captain David Taylor said that Gajdosova had repaid the faith put in her following her loss to the unheralded Voegele.
"You could not have written a better script for her redemption today after yesterday's defeat," he said.
"She was much better emotionally, she handled the crowd better and she handled the blows.
"She was serving at 5-3 for the match and played a poor game to lose the game.
"But she believed there would be another opportunity for her."
Taylor felt that Gajdosova's win could help turn around her ordinary start to the year.
"It is not easy playing against the crowd and you have your team on the sidelines and all the emotion and responsibility involved with that," he said.
"I think this win will give her a real shot in the arm."
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic took another step towards defending its Fed Cup title after a comprehensive victory over Germany, while Russia, Serbia and Italy also progressed to the last four.
The Czechs will play the Italians while Russia host Serbia in the semi-finals.
World number two Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic underlined her standing as one of the best female players on the planet when she fought back from a set down to win the first reverse singles against Sabine Lisicki 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-1.
Russian tennis star Svetlana Kuznetsova put her squad into the semi-finals by beating Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain in a tough three-setter in Moscow.
Two-time grand slam winner Kuznetsova beat Soler-Espinosa 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to give Russia an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Italy battled past Ukraine 3-2, overcoming the withdrawal through injury of Sara Errani, Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci overcoming Olga Savchuk and Lesia Tsurenko 7-5, 0-6, 6-1 in the decisive doubles rubber.
Serbia also posted a 3-2 win over Belgium, Bojana Jovanovski and Aleksandra Krunic producing the goods in their match-deciding game against Yanina Wickmayer and Alyson Van Uytvanck.
The Serb duo won a hard-fought contest 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-1.
AAP/AFP
Tags: tennis, sport, australia, switzerland First posted February 06, 2012 07:52:50
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