Petra Kvitova to lead Czech Republic in Fed Cup final

By Magdalena Stanislav

Petra Kvitova will have to recover early to lead Czechs in Fed Cup final

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (TheSportsNEXT) October 24, 2012: Despite of a viral illness, the world number six tennis player in WTA Rankings, Petra Kvitova has been chosen to lead Czech Republic in the Fed Cup final against Serbia.

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The announcement has come on the day when Petra Kvitova pulled out of WTA Championships in Istanbul citing viral illness and flew back home in a bid to get ready for the future assignments.

The Czech Republic squad for the Fed Cup final against a strong-looking Serbian team was named Wednesday by Captain Petr Pala and he decided to keep the same squad that defeated even-stronger Italy 4-1 in the semi-finals.

Petra Kvitova has not been in greatest of form off late and her notable victories came only last season when she won the Wimbledon and WTA Championships title but this year it’s been a topsy-turvy ride for the Czech tennis queen who has now slipped to sixth in the WTA Rankings.

Her latest performance was a horrific defeat to Agnieszka Radwanska last night when she committed whopping 41 unforced errors before bowing out by 6-3 6-2 as the viral illness never allowed her to concentrate on her game.

Her team’s spokesman Karel Tejkal told reporters here today that Petra Kvitova was flying home for further treatment and her teammates were expecting her to recover in time for the Fed Cup finals.

The Fed Cup 2012 best-of-five final will be played on November 3 and 4 on an indoor hard-court at Prague's O2 Arena.

Petra Kvitova has been joined by 17^th ranked Lucie Safarova as the second singles player in the squad while the doubles pair will be Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, who ended runners-up at this year’s US Open and London Olympics.

This would be the first time that Czech Republic and Serbia will meet in the Fed Cup. Thea last time Czech Republic made it into the Fed Cup finals was last year where they defeated Russia by 3-2 in Moscow. The defending champions have won the Fed Cup title only once since the country split in 1993. The Czechs won the Fed Cup title five more times when it was known as Czechoslovakia.