Summary Germany completed a 3-0 win over France in a Fed Cup World Group II tie.
OSTRAVA: Petra Kvitova clinched victory for Czech Republic over Australia in first round series on Sunday.
Kvitova rallied to overcome Samantha Stosur 2-6, 7-6 (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 (2), 6-3 in the opening singles.
The Czechs will face Italy or the United States 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.
The second reverse singles between Safarova and Gajdosova was canceled but the doubles involving Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka against the Australian pair of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua was going ahead, according to Fed Cup rules.
Germany completed a 3-0 win over France in a Fed Cup World Group II tie here on Sunday when Julia Goerges defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-2.
The Germans had already won both of Saturday s opening singles, also in straight sets, and they will now go forward to play one of the losing teams from the top group in a promotion/relegation playoff in April.
France on the other hand will need to win a play-off against one of the teams from the lower division which could be Canada, Britain, Poland, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belgium or the loser in the tie between Argentina and Sweden.
The defeat was a bitter blow for Amelie Mauresmo, the former Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, who was captaining the team for the first time but had to do without her top player Marion Bartoli, who had a viral condition.
