The Czech Republic successfully defended the Fed Cup trophy, dominating the Serbian team 2-0 on Saturday, and even though on Sunday Ana Ivanovic gave Serbia a slight ray of hope by beating the highest-ranked Czech Petra Kvitova in the first match of the day, Lucie Safarova's rocking winners against Jelena Jankovic finished the job for the Czechs in Prague. Read more »

The Czech Republic made a strong start to their Fed Cup title defense with two comfortable victories over Serbia, whose chances for maiden Fed Cup crown look very slim.

Lucie Safarova and Ana Ivanovic took the court first. The match was opened by Ivanovic holding her serve after fending off a break point, but that was as much of a lead the Serb had in the match, as Safarova went up a break in the third game, and even though Ivanovic leveled to 2-2, another break in the seventh game sealed the Serb's fate. Safarova continued her solid game in the second set and beat Ivanovic, who was coming back from a hip injury sustained in Moscow, 6-4 6-3 for the fourth straight time. Read more »

Less than 24 hours after finishing runner-up at the WTA Championships in Istanbul, Maria Sharapova has not only glamorously arrived to Prague on Monday, she went sightseeing with her best friend, taking some jumping photos in front of the Dancing House, attended a press conference, had some fun with fellow tennis players and Czech hosts Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova and then proceeded to play an exhibition match against them. Read more »

Shockingly, defending champion Petra Kvitova has pulled out of the WTA Championships in Istanbul, citing viral illness. After her yesterday's loss to Agnieszka Radwanska, accompanied by 41 unforced errors, tear-eyed Kvitova mentioned extreme nervousness that froze her fingers and legs, but there were no hints about sickness.

First alternate Samantha Stosur will replace Kvitova in the White Group. She will have time to adjust to the situation, as no matches are on schedule for her today. On Thursday she is set to play Sara Errani, and then her remaining round-robin match will be against Maria Sharapova.

Update: Thanks to the tweets of Beyond the Baseline, I'm learning that Kvitova said she misinterpreted her body shaking with nerves. Interestingly, she still plans to play an exhibition match with Maria Sharapova in Prague and lead the Czech Republic in their Fed Cup title defense against Serbia next month in the city. (source: Tennis.com, photo: Moo's Tennis Blog)

In the first match of the WTA Championships, in the White Group, Agnieszka Radwanska made her first career victory over Petra Kvitova at the very tournament where the Czech is defending her title. The Pole took advantage of Kvitova's numerous unforced errors and nervousness to record a routine 6-3 6-2 win.

First seven points of the match were Radwanska's (1-0 40-0) and even though Kvitova fought for a long time to hold her serve, eventually she was broken. In the next service game of Kvitova, Radwanska again earned triple break point, leading 3-0 40-0, but this time Kvitova came back and leveled the set. However, Radwanska regained control of the match and nothing could save Kvitova from her -18 differential of winners to unforced errors, compared to Radwanska's +6.

Kvitova has now spoiled two perfect records, 5-0 at the WTA Championships and 3-0 against Radwanska. Of course, nothing is lost yet when it comes to the WTA Championships, the round robin format gives you more than once chance. Kvitova has a day off tomorrow, while Radwanska will play the third match of the day against Maria Sharapova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)