Karolina Pliskova recently won the fourth and fifth matches to clinch the Fed Cup. Has anyone ever done this before? asked Richard Matthews
The Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova, playing only because Lucie Safarova was injured, squared the 2015 Fed Cup final at 2-2 by beating Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, then teamed up with Barbora Strycova to beat Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina in the vital final doubles.
Pliskova's effort meant the Czech Republic won the Fed Cup for the fourth time in five years; Petra Kvitova has played in all four victories, but this was Pliskova's first appearance.
From its inception as the Federation Cup in 1960 until 1994, the tournament's final stages were played in one place over a week.
In 1994 there were 32 teams in Germany, but Spain beat the United States in the final. The tight schedule meant each tie, including the final, featured only three matches -- two singles and a doubles.
In 1995 the name was changed, and the Fed Cup became more like the men's equivalent, the Davis Cup, with a World Group and set dates throughout the year for the ties, which now included five matches.
Since 1995 there have now been seven finals which ended up as 3-2, with six of them going down to the final match -- which, unlike the Davis Cup, is the doubles.
That includes the first of the Czech Republic's recent wins, also against Russia, in 2011, but the only previous time a player has won the fourth and fifth matches to clinch the title was in 1998, when Conchita Martinez beat Patty Schnyder, then teamed up with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the doubles to beat Schnyder and Martina Hingis to give Spain a 3-2 victory over Switzerland.