Straight-sets wins by Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova have put the defending champions Czech Republic 2-0 up against Italy in their Fed Cup tennis semi-final.
Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in two years, the Czechs began the highly-anticipated matchup with Safarova winning a first-set tiebreak against a struggling Francesca Schiavone, who was hobbled by a back injury.
Safarova built on that to breeze to a 6-1 win in the second set.
World number three Kvitova took less time to power past Italy's Sara Errani, beating her 6-4 6-3 in 81 minutes.
The winners of the tie will take on the winners of the Russia-Serbia matchup.
