Daily Times

PRAGUE: Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova overcame a second-set scare to beat Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 Saturday and give the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead against Switzerland in the Fed Cup first round. The 100th-ranked Golubic double-faulted to drop her serve in the eighth game of the final set, allowing the 21st-ranked Kvitova to serve out the match. The Czech converted her first match point with a backhand volley at the net on an indoor hard court at Prague’s O2 Arena. Kvitova hit 32 winners on the way to victory compared to Golubic’s 14. “It was up and down,” said Kvitova, who improved to 27-10 in Fed Cup singles. “I started well and she looked a bit nervous at first. But I struggled physically and also mentally in the second.”

After winning the first set, Kvitova looked to be heading for an easy victory, breaking Golubic in the opening game of the second set. But she struggled with her serve, giving the Swiss a chance to come back with six straight games. “I said to myself, I didn’t want to be the next (Czech) to lose to her,” Kvitova said.

In the 2016 Fed Cup semifinals, Golubic won both her singles matches, beating Barbora Strycova and Karolina Pliskova, her only wins in the Fed Cup singles. Kvitova has returned to Fed Cup action for the first time since recovering from injuries in a knife attack at her home in December 2016. She
won in St. Petersburg, Russia, this month, beating two top-10 players. Strycova played for the Czechs in the second singles against Belinda Bencic later Saturday in the World Group match.

Published in Daily Times, February 11^th 2018.