The Czech Fed Cup team exerted its dominance on the competition after defeating Russia 3-2 in an enthralling encounter at the O2 Arena in Prague.
The hosts had to come back from 2-1 down on the final day in front of a sell-out home crowd after Russia's Maria Sharapova showed why she is on the best players in the world with a stunning performance against Petra Kvitova.
Down a set, Sharapova struck blistering groundstrokes to force her way back into the match, eventually running out a 36 64 62 winner.
“It’s never over for me until I play the last point," said the world No. 4 after the match. "I don’t care who I’m playing against. The team supported me so well today.
"This is one of the few competitions where you’re not just playing for yourself and I really felt like I would look over to them and every time they were standing up. That’s the meaning of this event.”
And Sharapova was effusive in her praise for the experience of playing in her first-ever Fed Cup Final, adding: “There’s no better feeling than being out on the court and having so many people flying here from Russia to support you and your team mates on the side.
"It’s an incredible achievement for me as I’ve never been in a Fed Cup Final and I won two of my matches and it’s one of those things where you look back and you’ve missed a lot of time on the court and these matches are just one big bonus for me at this point.”
Knowing she had to win to keep her country's hopes of a comeback alive, out stepped Karolina Pliskova against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second singles rubber and she showed she was ice cool under pressure.
The tall Czech used her powerful serve and strong play off the ground to fend off her savvy opponent 63 64 before teaming up with Barbora Strycova in the decisive doubles.
This fabulous final would not have been the same if it didn't have one more twist in it and after the Czech duo dropped the first set against Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina it looked like the Russians might claim revenge for losing in the same fashion in 2011.
Pliskova and Strycova were not done, however, and soon came roaring back to win the next two sets and claim a famous victory 46 63 62 and with it a ninth Fed Cup title for Czech Republic.
Strycova said: “We are feeling unbelievable, we can’t describe it. I’m speechless because this atmosphere playing at home in front of such a crowd is unbelievable.
"I was believing that we could still do it [after going a set down] and believing in our game which we proved and then we did it at the end.
"This crowd was like a fifth person in our team. We really enjoyed it and I would like to thank to them. They pushed us forward."
Pliskova added: “I really enjoyed the whole week with the girls and even now this match was just an unbelievable feeling to play here in Prague and I’m just really happy that we have the trophy again.”
Not only is it a ninth title for the hosts but it is also their fourth victory in five years - the last team to do that was Russia.
Reflecting on a memorable day in his career, Czech captain Petr Pala said: “The girls have done it and I’m so happy and proud of them. It was an incredible day for tennis today with a great audience and I think the first match was just excellent.
"Petra came a bit short but the way she played I think she could only lose to Maria today and the way that Karolina handled it in singles and doubles was just phenomenal I would say.”
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