Czech Republic beat Germany to win a third Fed Cup title in four years.Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova won Sunday’s opening singles rubber against Angelique Kerber to give the Czechs an unassailable 3-0 lead in Prague.Kvitova, who defeated Andrea Petkovic 6-2 6-4 in Saturday’s opening rubber, saw off Kerber 7- 6 (7-5) 4-6 6-4 in a thrilling three-hour contest.Germany remain without a Fed Cup title since Steffi Graf led them to victory in 1992.The foundations for victory had been laid on Saturday when Lucie Safarova defeated Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-4 in the second singles match to put the Czechs 2-0 ahead.The Fed Cup The Fed Cup is an international team event for women. Like the men’s Davis Cup, ties are played in a best-of-five format with four singles and one doubles match.Nations are organised into groups, with the eight in the top-flight World Group playing a knockout competition to determine the champions No team has ever recovered from that deficit to win the Fed Cup and Kvitova was able to seal victory, though not before an enthralling encounter with Kerber.World number four Kvitova looked to be cruising when she led by a set and 3-0. But Kerber refused to be beaten and fought back to force the match into a decider.
The German powered into a 4-1 lead but Kvitova, backed by a partisan crowd, won five games in succession to take the match and the Fed Cup “It was an amazing match and I’m just glad I did it,” said the 24-year-old.”It was up and down from the beginning of the match and I had to fight for every single point. Maybe I was just lucky in the end. We will celebrate now.”Czech Republic also won the tournament in 2011 and 2012, following five titles earned by the former Czechoslovakia between 1975 and 1988.
-BBC
