Intro:

A superb fightback from Lucie Safarova helped holders Czech Republic into a 2-0 lead over France in the Fed Cup semi-finals in Ostrava on Saturday (18th April).

Script:

Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova won their respective opening singles matches to give defending champions the Czech Republic a 2-0 lead over France in the Fed Cup semi-finals on Saturday.

The first set was a tightly fought battle, but 29th seeded Caroline Garcia broke in the 10th game to take a 6-4 victory after Safarova struggled to find her form.

Garcia continued to take control in the second set, but could not finish the job, and Safarova converted her first match point after she failed to return her serve.

The Frenchwoman actually ended up wasting a total of five match points that game, allowing Safarova to stage a comeback in the second set, and win the tiebreak 7-1.

The 13-ranked Czech cemented her dominance in the final set, taking an eventual 5-0 lead after breaking Garcia twice.

Spurred on by the cheers of her homecrowd, Safarova wrapped up the match after a sluggish Garcia shot her return into the net, winning the match 4-6 7-6 6-1.

It was the first tournament in two months for Petra Kvitova, who came back from a break due to exhaustion.

But the world number 4 showed no signs of her former malady, breaking opponent Kristina Mladenovic to take the first set 3-1.

Mladenovic, a surprise choice for the singles over 11th placed Alize Cornet, narrowed the gap in the second set by breaking to level the score 4-4.

But it did not take long for the former Wimbledon champion to reassert her control. Another break took the score to 5-4.

The lacklustre Mladenovic's return sailed too wide and Kvitova served out the match on the second match point, a clean 6-3, 6-4 win.