Wimbledon champion Petra Kvi­tova will take on Andrea Petkovic in the opening rubber of the Fed Cup final between the Czech Republic and Germany in Prague today.

Following world No4 Kvitova and 14th-ranked Petkovic, 17th-ranked Lucie Safarova will take on Germa­ny’s world No10 Angelique Kerber.

“It really doesn’t matter who is going to play first,” said Kvitova, who has lost four of seven encoun­ters with Petkovic so far.

“It’s been a long time since we last played each other in 2011, a lot of things have changed since that time. I know I really need to be fo­cused on myself.

“I hope the home crowd will be an advantage for us,” added Kvito­va, who led the Czechs to Fed Cup wins in 2011 and in 2012.

Petkovic, who is 27, said she was happy to play the first match.

“Petra’s such a great player, she has a little more experience, she’s already won two Wimbledon finals and she won the Fed Cup before,” Petkovic said.

“We are nervous, definitely, in a good way, excited (but) we’ll try to transfer it into an energy and into positive emotions, hopefully we can do it as a team together.”

Safarova lost her only rubber against Kerber in 2012, but she was upbeat ahead of the clash pitting two left-handers.

“Angie’s been a top-10 player for a few years already so I expect a tough match, but I’m excited, looking forward, and I hope I will bring a point for the team,” said the 27-year-old Czech.

Kerber, 26, said she knew Safa­rova well from common practices.

“Lucie is a great player, she has played very well in the last few months,” she added.

In tomorrow’s reverse singles, Kvitova will take on Kerber in a clash of the teams’ No1 players and Safarova will then face Petkovic.

A reunited Czech pair of Andrea Hla­vackova and Lucie Hradecka are then due to take on Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki in the doubles.

Hlavackova and Hradecka decid­ed to team up again last month after a 2013 split following two Grand Slam titles and the 2012 Olympic silver medal from London.

“I have confidence in them and if it comes down to 2-2, it’s the best team I have,” said Czech captain Petr Pala, who, by calling up Hla­vackova, sidelined rising star Karo­lina Pliskova, the world No24, origi­nally nominated for the tie.

While the Czechs are eyeing their third Fed Cup win in four years, Germany are looking for their first title since 1992, when a team led by Steffi Graf and current captain Bar­bara Rittner won the title.