Prague, Czech Republic – Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic will play in Saturday's opening singles rubber in the 2012 Fed Cup final between her Serbian team and the host and reigning champion Czech Republic.
Ivanovic will take the court against Lucie Safarova, while the second opening singles bout will pit eighth-ranked Czech star Petra Kvitova against Serbia's other former world No. 1, Jelena Jankovic.
Sunday's reverse singles call for the 2011 Wimbledon champion Kvitova to take on the 12th-ranked former French Open titlist Ivanovic and the world No. 22 Jankovic to battle the 17th-ranked Safarova. Sunday's potentially deciding doubles match has a Czech tandem of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, who played in this year's U.S. Open and Olympic finals, facing a Serbian duo of Bojana Jovanovski and Aleksandra Krunic.
Kvitova was forced to pull out of last week's WTA Championships in Istanbul because of a viral illness.
"I feel very good. I practiced yesterday one hour and something and it was quite okay," Kvitova said. "It's a big end of the season, we play at home and I play for the team, for the Czech Republic and that makes me strong."
The Czech Republic is captained by Petra Pala, while Serbia is guided by Dejan Vranes.
The Czechs and Serbs will square off in a best-of-five affair on an indoor hardcourt at Prague's O2 Arena. The two nations have never met in Fed Cup play.
The Czech Republic beat Russia in last year's final in Moscow to secure its first championship since the former Czechoslovakia, a five-time Fed Cup champ, split in 1993.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.