OSTRAVA, Czech Republic — Defending champion Czech Republic reached its fourth Fed Cup final in five years by defeating France after Petra Kvitova won the first reverse singles on Sunday.
In a match of two big-hitting players, the fourth-ranked Kvitova beat 29th-ranked Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-4 for an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the semifinals.
After failing to serve out the match at 5-2, Kvitova converted her first match point in her next service game with a passing forehand shot on a fast indoor hard court at CEZ Arena.
"It was tough," said Kvitova, who had 25 winners to Garcia’s 18. "Our play is the same. Garcia played a very solid game."
The Czechs will face Russia in the final in November with a chance of winning their fourth title in five years.
"I hope we’ll play at home and the result will be the same as last year," Kvitova said.
The Czechs beat Germany in the final in Prague last year and will play Russia at home after the Russian team’s 3-2 victory over Germany in the other semifinals.
The Czechs beat Russia in the 2011 final in Moscow.
Garcia double-faulted twice in a row in the third game of the final set to drop her serve and Kvitova marched on with another break in the fifth game.
Kvitova got the decisive break in the first set with a backhand passing shot for a 5-3 lead and served out the set.
The Czechs took control of the series with a 2-0 lead after the opening singles matches on Saturday.
Lucie Safarova saved five match points before beating Garcia 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1 and Kvitova returned from almost a two-month break to defeat Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4.
"I felt much better today," said Kvitova, who last played on Feb. 26 in Doha, Qatar, before taking a rest.
The second reverse singles was not played. In the final doubles, France’s pair of Mladenovic and Pauline Parmentier defeated Safarova and Barbora Strycova 0-6, 6-3, 10-8 to cut the overall Czech victory to 3-1.
Serena Williams gets 2 points but loses decisive doubles as Italy beats US 3-2 in Fed Cup
BRINDISI, Italy — Serena Williams thought she was ready for the clay-court season.
As it turns out, the top-ranked player still has a long way to go toward finding the form that could propel her to a 20th Grand Slam title at the French Open.
"Today has been a big eye opener," Williams said after coming back from a set down to post a windy, error-filled 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Sara Errani on Sunday in a Fed Cup playoff against Italy.
Brindisi-born Flavia Pennetta then routed 65th-ranked Christina McHale 6-1, 6-1 and Pennetta and Errani beat Williams and Alison Riske 6-0, 6-3 in the decisive doubles match to give Italy a 3-2 win.
"I need to go home and really train," Williams said. "I’m totally not as ready for clay-court season as I thought I was. … Next time I’ll be really, really ready and I’ll know what to expect. Now I’m in the mindset of, ‘You know what, I’m not on hard court.’ I’m playing like I’m on hard court and I’m not. So I have to play and be ready to hit a thousand shots if necessary."
Williams also won her opening singles match Saturday but the U.S. sorely missed her sister Venus Williams, who withdrew from the U.S. team due to a personal matter. Also missing was rising star Madison Keys, who declined an invitation from U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez.
"Everybody that could be here was here," Fernandez said.
Italy returns to the World Group and can compete for the Fed Cup trophy next year while the U.S. is relegated to World Group II.
It was Williams’ first career loss in the Fed Cup, dropping to 16-1 — 13-0 in singles and 3-1 in doubles.
Errani and Pennetta celebrated by throwing water at each other and captain Corrado Barazzutti, and dancing on the red clay court.
Italy has now beaten the U.S. five consecutive times, including back-to-back finals in 2009 and 2010.
"When we won those two finals everyone said, ‘Well, the Williams didn’t come,"’ Barazzutti said. "So having Serena here makes this a little bit sweeter. We showed we’re one of the best teams in the world no matter who we play against."
In her singles match, Williams held a massive 70-7 lead in winners but she committed nearly three times as many unforced errors as the 15th-ranked Errani — 61-23.
Until the very end, Williams struggled to dictate play against someone who had never before presented her with serious problems.
"I don’t think I ever really got the hang of it," Williams said. "I really struggled today in the wind, on both sides. I don’t know what side was worse for me. Usually I’m able to adjust and it’s a little disappointing that I wasn’t able to adjust sooner."
Still, Williams improved to 20-0 this year in singles.
But Williams usually dominates Errani by taking advantage of the Italian’s weak serve. This time, the wind prevented her from stepping too far into the court.
The Circolo Tennis Brindisi is located next to the southern city’s port and a sharp breeze was blowing off the bay.
Williams and Errani often had to catch their tosses and start their service motions over again, or delay play when the wind whipped clay into their eyes between points.
"The wind helped me," Errani said. "Against a player like her it favoured me."
With the soldout crowd of 4,000 chanting her first name, Errani served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but Williams played solidly and then the American surged to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker and pushed it to a third.
There were four consecutive breaks of serve to open the third set and it was tied 3-3 before Williams finally surged ahead.
"I had a great experience here in both singles and doubles," Williams said. "I realized there are some things I want to work on. So I’m going to go home, train a little bit and get ready for the rest of the season."
Hingis loses again but Switzerland beats Poland 3-2 in Fed Cup World Group playoff
ZIELONA GORA, Poland — Five-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis lost both her singles matches but finished on the winning team as Switzerland beat Poland 3-2 Sunday in a Fed Cup World Group playoff.
Swiss victory was sealed when Timea Bacsinszky and Victorija Golubic beat Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska and Alicja Rosolska 2-6, 6-4, 9-7 in a doubles match lasting over 2 1/2 hours on the hard indoor court.
Hingis was set to play in the doubles but injured her left leg in her earlier defeat by Urszula Radwanska and was substituted by Golubic.
Hingis was playing this weekend in her first competitive singles matches since 2007 and lost both of them to the Radwanska sisters.
On Sunday, Urszula Radwanska beat Hingis 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to take the tie to 2-2 after Bacsinszky had easily defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-1. On Saturday, Agnieszka Radwanska beat Hingis 6-4, 6-0.
The 34-year-old Hingis was playing in the Fed Cup for the first time in 17 years.
After her second retirement in 2007, Hingis played singles only in exhibition matches but won several doubles and mixed doubles titles.
Rus rallies to beat Gajdosova, seal victory for Netherlands over Australia in Fed Cup playoff
‘S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands — Arantxa Rus staged a comeback Sunday to beat Jarmila Gajdosova 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 and seal victory for the Netherlands over Australia in their Fed Cup World Group playoff.
With only the doubles match to complete, Rus’ victory gave the Netherlands an unassailable 3-1 lead and ensured the Dutch will return to the World Group for the first time since 1998.
The win for Rus looked a long way off after Gajdosova took just 25 minutes to claim the first set. Rus finally won her first game 45 minutes into the match to make it 2-1 in the second set to spark the comeback and complete the Netherlands’ seventh straight Fed Cup victory.
The win was vindication for coach Paul Haarhuis’ decision to play the experienced Rus instead of higher-ranked Richel Hogenkamp in the singles.
Australia, a losing semifinalist last year, was missing former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur, who pulled out on the eve of the weekend tie after aggravating an Achilles tendon injury.
Kiki Bertens won her second singles match of the weekend to give the Netherlands the lead after Sunday’s first match. Bertens beat Stosur’s replacement, Casey Dellacqua, 6-2, 6-3 in just 1 hour, 10 minutes.
"My game today was really good. I played aggressive," Bertens.
Bertens gave the home team a winning start Saturday by beating Gajdosova in straight sets.
Azarenka powers Belarus to 3-2 win over Japan in Fed Cup playoff
TOKYO — Victoria Azarenka and Olga Govortsova won their doubles match on Sunday as Belarus defeated Japan 3-2 in the Fed Cup World Group II playoff.
Azarenka and Govortsova beat Shuko Aoyama and Ayumi Morita 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive fifth tie at Ariake Coliseum.
Azarenka defeated Kurumi Nara 6-3, 6-3 in the first reverse singles to give Belarus a 2-1 lead but Japan pulled even when Morita outlasted Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4.
The result means Belarus will return to World Group II in 2016 for just the third time ever, while Japan will remain in Asia/Oceania Zone Group I.
Former top-ranked Azarenka also won her opening singles match on Saturday.
Petkovic beats Kuznetsova, cutting Russia’s lead over Germany to 2-1
SOCHI, Russia — Germany’s Andrea Petkovic beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets Sunday to reduce Russia’s lead over Germany to 2-1 in their Fed Cup semifinal.
Petkovic hit 20 winners as she won 6-2, 6-1, while Kuznetsova struggled, landing fewer than half of her first serves.
To reach the final for a second successive year, Germany must still win the final two rubbers, with Angelique Kerber facing Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before a doubles match pits Kerber and Petkovic against Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva.
German captain Barbara Rittner entered Petkovic and Kerber as overnight replacements for the reverse singles in place of Sabine Lisicki and Julia Goerges.