Czech Republic Clinches 2012 Fed Cup Title Despite Heroics From Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic

Czech Republic (click to enlarge)

The Czech Republic successfully defended its Fed Cup title with a 3-1 defeat of Serbia in the final. Lucie Safarova clinched the 3rd point for the Czech women with a 6-1 6-1 defeat of Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, a former world #1. It looked like the Czech team might close it out 3-0 with Petra Kvitova taking on Ana Ivanovic, another former world #1 on the Serbian team. Kvitova had won 11 straight Fed Cup matches. But in what might be her biggest win of the year, albeit in a losing team effort, Ana took down Petra 6-3 7-5. Jelena did complain about a bad back, but it takes nothing away from a great effort by Safarova. Jelena is always hurt, it seems. Plus, Petra just recovered from bronchitis and she didn’t make any excuses. Still, Jelena and Ana are two of my favorite players so I was pulling for Serbia, but I really like Petra as well, so I am happy for her and her team. Plus, some of my favorite players historically (Ivan Lendl, Hana Mandlikova) have been Czech, so I’m happy there, too. This marks the third straight time a team has won back to back Fed Cup titles (Czech Republic 2011-2012, Italy (2009-2010) and Russia (2007-2008).

Day 2