The Draw Ceremony of the 2015 Fed Cup Final was held in the Old Town Hall in Prague. Petra Kvitova will face Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova in the first match. Karolina Pliskova will replace this year’s Roland Garros finalist Lucie Safarova in the second Saturday’s singles match against Maria Sharapova.
Kvitova, who recently reached the final at the WTA Finals in Singapore and won three of the last four editions of the Fed Cup in 2011, 2012 and 2014, leads 6-3 in her head-to-head matches against Pavlyuchenkova. The Czech star, twice Wimbledon champion in 2011 and 2014 and world number 5, dropped just five games in her only head-to-head match played this year against Pavlyuchenkova on clay in Madrid.
Kvitova has won 20 times in her 22 Fed Cup matches since 2011 losing just to Ana Ivanovic in 2012 and Roberta Vinci in 2013.
Sharapova and Pliskova will clash for the first time in their careers in the second singles match on Saturday. Both players are in good form. Sharapova reached the semifinal at the WTA Finals in Singapore after missing most of the summer due to injury problems following the Wimbledon semifinal.
On Sunday Kvitova will face Sharapova in a re-match of the recent semifinals of the WTA Finals in Singapore where the Czech player won 6-3 7-6 (7-3). The second reverse rubber on Sunday will feature Pliskova and Pavlyuchenkova. Pliskova beat Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-4 in their only head-to-head match in Dubai earlier this year,
Barbora Strykova and Lucie Safarova could face Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the possible Sunday’s doubles match.
Pliskova won a WTA title in Prague and finished runner-up to Venus Williams in the final at last week’s Elite Trophy in Zhuhai and in four more finals in Sydney, Dubai, Birmingham and Stanford. The young Czech player will make her second appearance in the Fed Cup. She made her debut in Quebec City where she beat Canadian players Francoise Abanda and Gabriela Dabrowski.
Czech Republic will take on Russia for the third time in a Fed Cup Final. The first time dates back to 1988 when former Czechoslovakia beat former Soviet Union 2-1 in Melbourne. In 2011 Czech Republic beat Russia 3-2 in Moscow.
The home team has won three of the last four titles (2011, 2012 and 2014) and has not been defeated since a 3-2 defeat against the USA in 2009. Russia will bidding to win their fifth Fed Cup after their previous triumphs in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.
