PARIS – Petra Kvitova beat Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 Sunday to bring the Czech Republic within one match of reaching the final of the Fed Cup. In a battle of the team’s top players, Kvitova came from behind to give Wickmayer her first defeat in her last 10 Fed Cup singles.
The Czechs are now heavy favorites to reach the final after finishing as semifinalists the past two years. Belgium’s hopes now rest with Kirsten Flipkens, ranked 106th in the world, and 49th-ranked Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. If necessary, doubles will decide the tie later. The winner will play Russia in the final on Nov. 5-6.
Meanwhile, German Andrea Petkovic’s victory over Melanie Oudin of the United States on Sunday saw the 17-time winners drop out of the top flight for the first time in the competition’s 48-year history. The 23-year-old Petkovic needed just one hour 18 minutes to beat 19-year-old Oudin 6-2, 6-3, having already beaten teenager Christina McHale 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.
Then Petkovic’s team-mate Sabine Lisicki needed just 88 minutes to continue the hosts’ domination later in the afternoon with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over McHale in the fourth rubber to give Germany a 4-0 lead.
