Stuttgart: Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova rallied to beat Germany's Sabine Lisicki and send defending champion Czech Republic into the semi-finals of the Fed Cup after giving her country an insurmountable lead in the first round on Sunday.
Angelique Kerber later beat Lucie Hradecka 6-4, 6-4 to salvage some pride for the hosts with the 24-year-old German's first Fed Cup win.
But Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova reaffirmed Czech dominance in the final game of the best-of-five series with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Julia Georges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the doubles.
"We were a little unlucky to play the defending champs in the first round. It could have been the final, easily," Lisicki said.
Lisicki took the first set on a tie break, 7-6 (2), but No 2-ranked Kvitova came from behind for the second time in two days to claim the second 6-4 before seeing out the decisive set 6-1.
The No 14-ranked Lisicki had won their only previous encounter in 2009, but the 22-year-old seemed to allow the pressure get to her in the second set when Kvitova turned the screw.
"I had trouble with my return in the beginning, and it took a long time before I knew what to do — it was in the middle of the second set. Anyway, I'm happy that I got it," the 21-year-old Kvitova said.
Kvitova, who is on a 27-0 run indoors, had already prevailed over Julia Goerges after a long battle on Saturday, when Iveta Benesova also came from behind to beat Lisicki.
"I don't know what the key is to playing indoor, but I'm very comfortable playing indoor," Kvitova said.
It was the Czechs' sixth win in seven meetings between the countries and they will next play Ukraine or Italy on April 21-22.
Germany go into a play-off to stay in the eight-nation world group.
"We have such a good team. We're really looking forward to playing again in April, and hopefully with a complete team," Lisicki said.
Germany's top player, 10th-ranked Andrea Petkovic, had been ruled out with a lower back injury.
Comments
0 comment