Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/441551
12 ITFWORLD WINTER 2014 FED CUP BY BNP PARIBAS I n the recent years of domination by Czech Republic in team tennis, Petra Kvitova has very much been the nation's stand- out player when it comes to Grand Slam success. How fitting it was that the only Czech singles player to win one of the sport's four majors in the last 16 years clinched victory against Germany in the 2014 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final in Prague. In front of a raucous home crowd at the O2 Arena, world No. 4 Kvitova beat Angelique Kerber in one of, if not the best, Fed Cup match of the year as the host nation won 3-1 to claim a third title in four years. This ensured that the Czechs moved ahead of Australia and became the second most successful nation in the history of the competition. They may still be nine behind the USA but given their success in the last four years, who's to say the Czechs could not eventually overhaul them one day? It is easy to forget that the Czech Republic was just one set away from being knocked out by Spain in the first round in February. Germany, meanwhile, had worked its way up from World Group II, a journey which started in February 2013 away to France. Germany captain Barbara Rittner had spoken that weekend of the potential for her side to go far in the competition. She was proved right as the Germans won four ties in a row to reach their first final in 22 years. Rittner, at the age of 19, was a playing member of the team back in 1992, when she, Steffi Graf, Anke Huber and Sabine Hack won the trophy in Frankfurt. Now here she was in Prague with a chance to join Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and Margaret Court as the only people to win the competition as both player and captain. Bidding for their third title in four years, the Czechs were playing under the weight of expectation in front of a sell- out crowd of 13,000 people. Among them was the great Martina Navratilova, who won the competition with the former Czechoslovakia in 1975. The stage was set for 24-year-old Kvitova's homecoming, with the opening rubber against world No. 14 Andrea Petkovic being the first time she had played in her country since claiming a second Wimbledon title in July. The fast court in Prague was expected to suit Kvitova and the experience of playing in two Fed Cup Finals previously also helped as she took advantage of a nervy opponent with her high-quality returns helping her race to the opening set. After breaks were exchanged early on in the second set, proceedings remained tight as Petkovic settled. Kvitova ruthlessly turned the knife, though, as the German served to stay in the match and a double fault gifted Kvitova match point, which she took for a 62 64 victory before later revealing that Czech Republic ended Germany's dreams in a passionate Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final in Prague, says Stuart Fraser, becoming the second most successful nation in the women's team event. CZECH again The Czech team lifts the Fed Cup for the third time in four years