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she was so nervous she struggled to eat and sleep in the 24 hours before she walked onto court. A compelling battle followed between two lefthanders in Lucie Safarova and Kerber, the latter coming in with the best Fed Cup form of any player in the final, having won all four of her singles matches in the competition in 2014. It was the German world No. 10 who made the better start, putting some early pressure on her opponent and claiming a break in the fifth game as Safarova hit a forehand wide. World No. 17 Safarova broke back, though, and with Kerber serving to stay in the set at 4-5, she let the occasion get to her when facing a second set point. Kerber hit a forehand which she thought was a winner, shouting "come on" in response, but Safarova managed to somehow pick it up and the German immediately walked to her chair knowing that her shout was a clear violation of the hindrance rule. Kerber quickly put it to the back of her mind and was twice a break up in the second set but could not stay in front in the face of constant aggressive play from Safarova. Kerber hit two consecutive double faults when serving to stay in the match and Safarova claimed a 64 64 victory on her third match point to further improve her impressive record of eight wins in nine rubbers on home soil. In the history of the competition, no nation has ever come back from a 0-2 deficit. With Kvitova in such fierce form on this fast indoor court, home fans could be forgiven for leaving the arena on Saturday evening thinking it was all but over. Czech captain Petr Pala preferred to remain cautious. "We still have one more point to put under our belt and it's always the hardest one," he said. "It's never easy to win the last match." And how he was proved right. Despite suggestions by some that Sabine Lisicki might be fielded against Kvitova, Rittner put her faith in Kerber and the crowd were treated to a remarkable match. The substantial travelling support were in fine voice as Kerber appeared the steadier of the two in the early stages and she went a double break up for 5-2 as Kvitova hit what should have been a simple putaway volley long. Kerber then had three attempts to serve out the set but three times she failed. This thrilling first set went to a tiebreak and Kvitova edged it 75 to leave Kerber wondering how on earth she had failed to take one of six set points. Lucie Safarova enjoyed an easy win against Angelique Kerber Petra Kvitova overcame pre-final nerves in impressive fashion The Czechs were playing under the weight of expectation in front of a sell-out crowd of 13,000. Among them was the great Martina Navratilova, who won the competition with the former Czechoslovakia in 1975. www.itftennis.com