Prague, Czech Republic (Sports Network) - Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova won
opening singles matches Saturday to give the Czech Republic a commanding 2-0
lead over visiting Serbia in the Fed Cup final.
Safarova was first on the court for the home nation and she came away with a
6-4, 6-3 victory over former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic before Kvitova won nine
straight games en route to a 6-4, 6-1 rout of Jelena Jankovic, another former
top-ranked Serbian star.
Kvitova will have the first chance to give the Czechs a second straight Fed
Cup title on Sunday. The 2011 Wimbledon champ will open reverse singles play
in the best-of-five tie against Ivanovic before Safarova and Jankovic meet in
the day's second scheduled singles match.
Should it come down to doubles in the fifth rubber, the Czechs will send out
Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka -- finalists at the U.S. Open and
Olympics -- against a Serbian duo of Bojana Jovanovski and Aleksandra Krunic.
After a trade of early breaks in the first match, Safarova broke again for a
4-3 lead and held the rest of the way to claim the first set. She broke again
to start the second set and closed out the match with another break to give
the Czechs the first point of the weekend.
Jankovic then appeared to give the Serbs some life in the second match with a
4-2 lead in the opening set, but Kvitova turned it on from there. She won the
final four games of the first set and the first five of the second before
Jankovic got on the board again. Kvitova then closed it out for a 2-0 lead.
The Czech Republic beat Russia in last year's final in Moscow to secure its
first championship since the former Czechoslovakia, a five-time Fed Cup
champ, split in 1993.
This marks the first Fed Cup meeting between Serbia and the Czech Republic.
The Sports Network