Czechs Kvitova, Benesova win at Fed Cup

STUTTGART, Germany, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Come-from-behind wins by Iveta Benesova and Petra Kvitova Saturday put the Czech Republic within one win of clinching its Fed Cup quarterfinal against Germany.

Benesova topped Sabine Lisicki 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Kvitova defeated Julia Goerges 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in giving the Czechs a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

The Czech Republic is seeking its first back-to-back Fed Cup titles since it was involved in three consecutive wins from 1983-85 when it was part of Czechoslovakia.

Goerges won 2-of-3 break chances and Kvitova answered by converting the only break chance of the second set to extend their match. They traded a series of late third-sets breaks, with Kvitova breaking at love in the 11th game and Goerges returning the favor in the 12th.

Kvitova grabbed the edge at 9-8 with her third break of the set and then held at love for the 2-0 series advantage. Kvitova won 12 of the last 14 points in the match.

Lisicki won two of her three break-point opportunities to take the early lead against Benesova. But Benesova fought off 10-of-11 break points the rest of the way while cashing in a pair of breaks in each of the second and third sets.

Benesova will go against Goerges while Kvitova takes on Lisicki in Sunday's reverse singles matches. The final match of the series is doubles with Germans Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Angelique Kerber playing Lucie Hradecka and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

The team that wins the series moves into the Fed Cup semifinals in April against the winner of the series between Italy and Ukraine.