PRAGUE: Petra Kvitova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will open the Fed Cup final tie between holders the Czech Republic and Russia in Prague on Saturday, following Friday’s draw.

Kvitova, the world number six and the Czech number one, will take on 28th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova on the hardcourt of Prague’s O2 Arena from 1300 GMT.

Czech number two Karolina Pliskova, ranked 11th, will then face fourth-ranked Russian number one Maria Sharapova in the hosts’ quest for the fourth trophy in five years.

In Sunday’s reverse singles, Kvitova will first play against Sharapova and Pliskova will then take on Pavlyuchenkova.

Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova were drawn against Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova for Sunday’s doubles.

Czech captain Petr Pala chose Pliskova over a higher-ranking Safarova for singles, while his Russian counterpart Anastasia Myskina picked Pavlyuchenkova over a better-placed Makarova.

The two nations have met five times in the Fed Cup before but three of those meetings were between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.

The Czech team lead their head-to-head record with Russia 3-2, including a victory in the most recent encounter in the 2011 final in Moscow.

The Czechs have won the trophy eight times, including five victories as Czechoslovakia which went on to split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

Four-time champions Russia will be playing in their 11th Fed Cup final.

Draw:

Saturday (from 1300 GMT):

Petra Kvitova (CZE) v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS); Karolina Pliskova (CZE) v Maria Sharapova (RUS).

Sunday (from 1100 GMT):

Petra Kvitova (CZE) v Maria Sharapova (RUS); Karolina Pliskova (CZE) v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS); Lucie Safarova/Barbora Strycova (CZE) v Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina (RUS).

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015