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Fed Cup is the premier international team competition in women's tennis. It was launched in 1963. The men's equivalent of the Fed Cup is the Davis Cup. The World Group is the highest level of Fed Cup competition in 2015. There were a total of eight teams that participated in the World Group from eight countries: Australia, France, Canada, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and Russia.
The first semi-final was played between Czech Republic and France in Ostrava, Czech Republic on hard court. The second semi-final was played between Russia and Germany in Sochi, Russia on clay.
First Semi-final
In the first semi-final, Czech Republic beat France 3-1 to qualify for the finals. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who had not played since February due to exhaustion, returned to action and won two matches as Czech Republic reached a fourth Fed Cup final in the last five years.
Kvitova won her first match against Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4 and in the second match, she claimed a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Caroline Garcia. In the third singles draw, Lucie Safarova defeated Caroline Garcia in three sets 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 to put the champions 3-0 up.
France claimed a consolation victory in the doubles category as Pauline Parmentier and Kristina Mladenovic defeated Lucie Šafá?ová and Barbora Strýcová.
Second Semi-final
The second semifinal between Russia and Germany was a close affair. The Russians, without Maria Sharapova, defeated Germany by a 3-2 margin. They will now meet Czech Republic in the final of Fed Cup in November.
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won their first matches to put Russia ahead by 2-0. But, they lost their next matches to put the scores level at 2-2. The Russians emerged the winners after winning their doubles match. The Russian pair of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina outclassed their counterparts Sabine Lisicki and Andrea Petkovic in straight sets to reach the final.
