ITF

FED cup by bnp paribas C zech Republic had a new star in 2012 after Lucie Safarova played out of her skin to clinch the decisive point of the 2012 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final and ensure the trophy remained on Czech soil for a second straight year. day into the fourth rubber to ensure the Czechs won their seventh Fed Cup title. The defending champions lost just three rubbers all year – only one of which was live – as they extended their winning streak to six matches. They saw off Germany 4-1 in the first round, Italy 4-1 in the semifinals before coming up against first-time finalists Serbia at the O2 Arena in Prague. The victory moves the Eastern European nation into jointsecond alongside Australia for the most Fed Cup titles and cements their place as the No. 1 team in the competition. With both their singles players in the world's Top 20 and an Olympic silver-medal winning doubles partnership in Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka it looks as though Czech Republic could be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. Petr Pala's team went into the Final as favourites and didn't disappoint, racing to a 2-0 lead on the opening day thanks to victories from Safarova and Czech No. 1 Petra Kvitova. An inspired Ana Ivanovic gave the visitors a glimmer of hope by defeating Kvitova in the first reverse singles on the Sunday but Safarova carried her good form from the opening The Czechs will be joined by some new faces in the World Group in 2013 after Australia, Japan, Slovak Republic and USA all earned promotion back into the World Group at the expense of Belgium, Germany, Spain and Ukraine. Elsewhere, Argentina and Sweden fought their way into World Group II following success in the play-offs. 10 PROFESSIONAL TENNIS

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