OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — Petra Kvitova saved a match point before clinching victory for defending champion Czech Republic over Australia in the Fed Cup first round series on Sunday.
Kvitova rallied to overcome Samantha Stosur 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in a matchup of top-10 players to give the Czechs an insurmountable 3-0 lead on an indoor hardcourt at the CEZ Arena.
“It was a very good game,” Kvitova said. “One of my best of the season. I am really satisfied.”
On Saturday, the eighth-ranked Kvitova, who has won just three of her seven matches this year on the WTA tour, beat Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in the opening singles.
The Czechs will face Italy in the semifinals in April.
Kvitova converted her first match point with one of her 39 winners.
But she also double-faulted 10 times and produced 38 unforced errors.
Stosur wasted a match point at 5-4 in the second set, allowing the Czech to come back.
Kvitova took the second set with a forehand winner and jumped to a commanding 5-0 lead in the final set before Stosur fought back, breaking the Czech twice.
“I didn’t want the fans to get bored,” Kvitova said with a smile.
At first, No. 9-ranked Australian seemed to recover from Saturday’s upset 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) loss to Lucie Safarova, jumping to a 5-2 lead in the first set before breaking Kvitova for the second time to take the set.
In the doubles, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka teamed up for the Czechs to beat Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-0, 7-6 (7-1) to make it 4-0.
The second reverse singles between Safarova and Gajdosova was canceled, according to Fed Cup rules.
Russia vs. Japan
MOSCOW (AP) — Ekaterina Makarova won the second reverse singles match and paired with Elena Vesnina to secure Russia a 3-2 victory over Japan in the Fed Cup on Sunday.
Makarova and Vesnina beat Japan’s Ayumi Morita and Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-2.
Earlier Sunday, Morita put Japan in a 2-1 lead by beating Vesnina 6-4, 6-1 in the first reverse singles, but Makarova put Russia back on track by routing veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-1, 6-1.
The two teams split Saturday’s opening singles when Maria Kirilenko won the first point for Russia by defeating Date-Krumm, while Morita downed Makarova to even the tie at one-all.
The Russian pair of doubles specialists — with both in the top 10 on the WTA Tour doubles rankings — won four consecutive games in the first set and jumped to a 4-1 lead in the second to leave no doubts about the outcome on a hard court at the Olympic indoor stadium.
“I really wanted to win this clash to rehabilitate myself for a defeat in today’s singles,” Vesnina said. “We were a bit nervous at the beginning of the match but in the late stages we found our normal play.”
Makarova dominated the match against Date-Krumm with her Japanese opponent able to hold serve only once in each set.
“I felt some extra responsibility today as the result of this rubber could have decided the entire match,” Makarova said.
Morita broke Vesnina in the fourth game and rallied from 40-love down in the seventh game for a 5-2 lead. The Russian broke back for 5-4 but was broken on her next serve to lose the set. Vesnina, who substituted for originally drawn Kirilenko, broke Morita in the opening game of the second set but Morita dominated the rest of the games and served the match out at love to record her 14th straight Fed Cup victory.
“I played well in both my matches here and I’m really pleased with my performance this weekend,” Morita said. “The fact that I managed to win two points for my team boosted my self-confidence a great deal.”
Vesnina could not match her opponent’s form.
“She is feeling confident right now and she likes this surface,” Vesnina said. “Ayumi is playing her best tennis right now.”
Four-time winner Russia was without Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva.
Russia will host Slovakia in the semifinals on April 20-21.
Slovakia vs. Serbia
NIS, Serbia (AP) — Daniela Hantuchova defeated Vesna Dolonc 6-3, 6-2 to secure a 3-1 victory for Slovakia over Serbia in the first round of the Fed Cup and a place in the semifinals against Russia, which beat Japan on Sunday.
Hantuchova cruised to victory against little-known Dolonc, who served well and fought hard but could not match the much more experienced Slovak player.
Hantuchova broke early in the first set and kept the lead. Dolonc managed to hold serve in the first four games of the second set, but Hantuchova then took the lead, closing with a break on match point when Dolonc’s forehand landed beyond the baseline.
Earlier Jana Cepelova rallied to defeat Bojana Jovanovski 5-7, 7-5, 11-9.
The 98th-ranked Cepelova, who replaced Dominika Cibulkova in the reverse singles, repeatedly exchanged breaks with Jovanovski who played with a back injury in a match that lasted more than three hours.
“I am grateful to our coach for chosing me,” Cepelova said. “It was a tough match and I had to fight for each point.”
Jovanovski said that her back hurt even more after the match, but that “I am not sorry I played.”
“Each serve hurt like a knife,” she said, adding that she won’t take part in the touranments in Doha and Dubai. “But I fought, I hope we will have more luck next time.”
Jovanovski saved two match points in the third set before Cepelova converted the third.
On Saturday, Cibulkova retired hurt with a leg muscle strain while leading her singles match against Dolonc.
Serbia is missing leading players Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic because of injuries.
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