First blood to Safarova

Safarova, the world number 17 and Czech number two, needed an hour and 41 minutes to sink world number 12 Ivanovic on the hardcourt of Prague's O2 Arena.

Ivanovic, a former world number one, never found the pace to match her left-handed rival, making 32 unforced errors against Safarova's 18.

Serbian number one Ivanovic was broken twice in both sets, letting Safarova improve her head-to-head winning streak to four victories.

"The key was to shake off the nervous feeling. I was improving through the match," Safarova said just after the game.

The turning point she added came "in the first set when I broke her and took a 5-2 lead.".

In the second rubber on Saturday, Czech number one Petra Kvitova, who is recovering from a cold that forced her to pull out of the WTA Championship last week, will face Serbia's number two Jelena Jankovic.