Petra Kvitova win puts Czech Republic in Fed Cup final

Reuters

Petra Kvitova put the Czech Republic into a sixth Fed Cup final in eight years as her win against Angelique Kerber on Sunday sealed a 3-1 semi-final victory over Germany.

Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, needed just 58 minutes to power her way to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kerber and give the Czechs an unassailable lead in the tie.

After the Czechs had gone 2-0 up on Saturday, Julia Goerges had earlier given hosts Germany a brief life-line with a gritty win over Karolina Pliskova in Stuttgart.

"I am very relieved. I was getting nervous before this game," admitted Kvitova following her win having earlier watched Pliskova lose.

"We had a great position from yesterday, I think Julia played a really good match.

"I knew we still needed one point from our last two games and I just did my best."

The Czechs will meet France or the USA in the November final.

The final doubles tie between Tatjana Maria/ Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Barbora Strycova/ Katerina Siniakova is now a dead rubber.

Goerges had earlier pulled the Germans back into the tie with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Pliskova.

However in the final singles rubber, Kerber failed to match Goerges` ambition and conceded three break points to Kvitova in the first set.

Kvitova imposed herself on the German in the second set for a convincing win.

The Czech Republic can now make plans for the November final having won the Fed Cup for three straight years from 2014-16 until the USA won the 2017 title.