Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova (right) celebrates her win with team captain Petr Pala. (Reuters)
AFP/Ostrava, Czech Republic
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova sent holders the Czech Republic into their fourth Fed Cup final in five years after breezing past France’s Caroline Garcia in straight sets here yesterday.
On the hardcourt of the CEZ Arena in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, the left-handed world number four beat 29th-ranked Garcia 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 32 minutes to give the hosts an unbeatable 3-0 lead.
The Czechs, who won the Fed Cup title in 2011, 2012 and 2014, will now take on Russia in Prague in the November 14-15 final after the Russians beat Germany 3-2 in the other semi-final.
In yesterday’s clash of the teams’ number one players, the 25-year-old Kvitova showed she was back in shape after a month-long break from the sport as she won the 25th of her 31 Fed Cup singles rubbers.
The first set offered aggressive tennis with Kvitova earning two breaks against one for Garcia who tossed her racket and slammed the ball into the ground in frustration.
In the second set, the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion showed her dominance over the 21-year-old French youngster, taking a 5-1 lead which Garcia only managed to narrow.
“It was definitely hard,” Kvitova said after the game. “I knew what to expect, I played against her last year so I knew how to play and it worked. She likes to play fast, long balls into the body so the rival wouldn’t have time.
“I tried to play the same, go for it from the first ball after the serve so she would have to run and wouldn’t have time to dictate the pace,” she added, praising Garcia’s “very solid performance.”
Garcia said the game was “a high-level one”. “It was close today, she handled her chances a bit better than I did. I tried to do my best,” she said.
In the dead doubles rubber yesterday, France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Pauline Parmentier beat Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova 0-6, 6-3, 10-8 to round off the final score at 3-1.
On Saturday, world number 13 and Czech number two Safarova beat Garcia 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1.
Kvitova then saw off 58th-ranked Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4.
Vesnina, Pavlyuchenkova put Russia in final
In Sochi, Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Sabine Lisicki and Andrea Petkovic in the deciding rubber of their Fed Cup World Group semi-final against Germany.
Vesnina and Pavlyuchenkova won 6-2, 6-3 in one hour 24 minutes to earn a pass into the title match against the Czech Republic.
Earlier yesterday, Germany’s Angelique Kerber beat Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-0 to level the match at 2-2.
The 27-year-old Kerber, winner of the Charleston WTA event last week, looked in command from the start, breaking Pavlyuchenkova’s serve twice to take the opening set in just 25 minutes before starting the second with yet another break before sending the tie into the decisive fifth rubber.
In yesterday’s opening match Petkovic reduced the arrears with a straight-sets victory 6-2, 6-1 over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
