The unbeatables

OSTRAVA, NORTH MORAVIA

April 25, 2010. That was when the Czech Republic last lost a Fed Cup tie, and if their latest performance is anything to go by, that doesn't look like changing anytime soon.

Spearheaded by world No. 8 Petra Kvitová, the defending champions completed a 4-0 whitewash of Australia in Ostrava Feb. 9-10, advancing to a semifinal clash with Italy in April. In truth, though, the scoreline only told half the story, with the Australians likely to feel hard done by after carving out several good chances for themselves in all three singles rubbers.

Kvitová, the team's guiding light, put a bad start to the year behind her by first battling past Slovak-born Jarmila Gajdošová Saturday, Feb. 9, and then recovering from a set and a match point down to beat Samantha Stosur on the Sunday, giving the Czechs an insurmountable lead in the tie.

After that latter victory, the 22-year-old - who has won just three of her seven WTA Tour matches in 2013 - said she was happy to get through a difficult encounter against a fellow top-10 player.

"I knew how I had to play, and I was trying to play aggressively," Kvitová said. "It's great to win after [saving] the match point and losing the first set. It was quite tough for me, but I never give up. I try to fight until the end, and that was the key for me."

In a battle of two former Grand Slam champions, it was 2011 U.S. Open victor Stosur, wearing strapping for an apparent thigh strain, who started the brighter. She stormed through the opener 6-2 without even facing a break point, her error-strewn straight sets loss to Czech No. 2 Lucie Šafářová the day before seemingly a distant memory.

Both players struggled to keep hold of their serves at the start of the second set, before Stosur was presented with that golden opportunity to haul her country back into contention when receiving at 5-4, 40-30 up.

It was not to be, however, as Kvitová, despite producing two double faults earlier in the game, powered a blistering second serve right into the Australian's body, which she returned long over the baseline.

"I was so nervous about my serve, so I was really glad I hit it in," the Czech said of that moment. "It was a really tough game for me."

Having stared defeat in the face, the 2011 Wimbledon champion rallied to claim the set on a tie-break and then raced into a 5-0 lead in the decider, displaying some of the tennis that saw her reach the position of No. 2 in the world at the beginning of last year.

Although Stosur fought back by taking the next four games, she tightened up again - as so often happens to her at times of pressure - and Kvitová was able to finish off the match in two hours and five minutes.

"At 5-0 [down], I thought, 'What have I got to lose? Nothing,' and then I just kept trying to play the way I was trying to play the whole match," Stosur reflected afterward. "It started working again, and I really gave myself every chance to come back."

Like Kvitová, the world No. 9 has also endured a bad start to the season. She admitted to choking during her loss against China's Zheng Jie at last month's Australian Open, and while she refused to blame nerves for the 7-6 7-6 reverse against Šafářová, Stosur said her performance in that match flitted between "good and evil."

"Overall, I was quite pleased with the way I played," she said. "Unfortunately, I didn't feel like I got myself in a position during [the big] points to be able to dictate. Sometimes it was my fault, sometimes it was due to her good play."

The 28-year-old blew five set points in the opener (while racking up 10 double faults and 28 unforced errors) and failed to capitalize on her opponent's own inconsistency as she served for the second set at 6-5.

For Šafářová, cheered on by some 4,500 fans at the ČEZ Arena, the victory was as satisfying as any this year. "It was a really tough match, a really close one and a very long one, so I'm very happy that I won it, especially at home in front of such a great crowd," she said.

Earlier that day, Kvitová got the Czechs off to a dream start with her 7-6 6-3 success over Gajdošová, just about keeping the jitters at bay during a tight first set before edging a topsy-turvy second to secure the victory.

"I don't think she looked like she was struggling," Gajdošová said when asked about Kvitová's lack of form. "It would be great if she struggled. I would love that, and I would probably win if she did, but she played well when she had to."

Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká rounded off the perfect weekend for the hosts by easing past Australian Open finalists Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua in the dead doubles rubber, leaving Captain Petr Pála to look forward to the encounter with Italy.

"I'm very happy about the result, but I think it's a little tough for the Australians to lose 4-0 because all the matches were tighter than maybe the score appears," he said. "They had set points and they had match points, so I think it's pretty hard on them."

"The last time we lost was in Italy, [when] we were beaten 5-0. I don't mind going this time because I think that team was stronger than it is now, but obviously the Italians are always strong, especially in the Fed Cup."

Jonathan Crane can be reached at
jcrane@praguepost.com