Rebecca Marino of Canada during her first round match at an Australian Open qualifying tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 8.ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE/The New York Times News Service
The Czech Republic won two matches on Sunday to complete a 4-0 sweep of Canada in Fed Cup play at Agrofert Arena.
Marketa Vondrousova clinched the overall victory with a 6-3, 6-4 singles win over Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino.
“We were neck and neck both sets,” Marino said. “I’m really proud of the effort I put out there.”
Marino, who made a comeback to the sport last year, was making her first Fed Cup appearance since 2011.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Toronto’s Sharon Fichman dropped a 7-6 (4), 7-5 decision to Barbora Krejcikova and Marie Bouzkova in doubles play. The scheduled singles rubber between Karolina Muchova and Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que., was not played.
The host Czechs posted two singles victories on Saturday and did not drop a set over the weekend. Canada will fall to the World Group II level for 2020 while the Czechs advanced to the World Group.
The top-ranked Czechs, who have won the Fed Cup six times over the past eight years, did not call on top singles players such as Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova for this tie.
“We got the job done,” Vondrousova said. “I’m very happy. We have a new team, new girls. I think we could have four teams maybe, so many girls around 100 in the world.”
Bianca Andreescu (shoulder) and Eugenie Bouchard (undisclosed) were not available for 11th-ranked Canada.