BUCHAREST, Romania — Home favorite Simona Halep has won a crucial point for Romania in a three-set battle against the Czech star Petra Kvitova on Sunday, increasing Romania's lead to 2-1 at their Fed Cup first-round matchup.
The world's No. 3 completed a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win in two hours, 11 minutes in the Transylvanian city of Cluj to roars of approval from the Romanian crowd.
The defending champion Czechs are now relying on Karolina Pliskova to level the match against Romania's Monica Niculescu, who beat the two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova on Saturday.
Halep won the first set, then Kvitova recovered to win the second set 6-3.