Defending champion Czechs bounce Canada out of Fed Cup with 4-0 win

QUEBEC – Canada was overmatched in its first appearance in the elite Fed Cup World Group as the defending champion Czech Republic finished off a 4-0 sweep of Sunday’s first-round tie.

Canada needed to be perfect after dropping the opening two singles matches of the best-of-five series on Saturday, and Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski got off to a promising start by taking a 4-1 lead in the first set against Karolina Pliskova.

Canada’s faint hope quickly evaporated. Pliskova, world’s 22nd-ranked player stormed back to win the match 6-4, 6-2 and send the Czechs to a semifinal meeting with France.

With the tie already won, the Czechs completed the sweep when Denisa Allertova and Lucie Hradecka defeated Dabrowski and Montreal’s Francoise Abanda 6-1, 7-6 (2).

Canada will now play a World Group playoff in April. The draw will be held on Tuesday.

The weekend matchup was missing several key players. Eugenie Bouchard, ranked seventh in the world, declined to play for Canada.

The Czechs were missing world No. 4 Petra Kvitova and No. 15 Lucie Safarova.