Rybakina and Putintseva pull Kazakhstan ahead against Kerber and Germany in Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers

Elena Rybakina smoked Laura Siegemund while Putintseva took down Kerber to give Kazakhstan a decisive lead over Germany in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers.

A place in the finals is ast stake and Kazakhstan not leaving any chances on the court. The nation smartly picked clay as their surface in this matchup having a noted clay court specialist in Putintseva on their roster. The matchup between her and Kerber was always going to be the decisive one as Elena Rybakina as of the best players in the world was expected to win.

She did not disappoint in the 2nd tie as she faced Laura Siegemund. Rybakina dominated the match with her powerful groundstroke from start to finish. She won the opening set with 6-0 before losing her rhythm in the 2nd set. She lost her serve early on but started dominating not long after that taking a 3-1 lead. Eventually, she finished it off with 6-1.

That gave her nation the 2-0 lead in the rubber against Germany as Yulia Putintseva won the first match against Kerber. The German opened the match rather well despite her lack of love for the surface. She was up 5-1 early, faltered a bit later but still won it with 6-3. She struggled immensely in the 2nd set falling behind 1-5 and losing it 3-6 in the end.

Struggles continued in the final set as Putintseva simply had all the answers and Kerber was running from one error to another. Putintseva finished it off with 6-2 for a huge point for Kazakhstan.