SOCHI, Russia: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova produced a stunning comeback to help Russia into a 2-0 lead against Germany in their Fed Cup semifinal on Saturday.

The world No. 38 came from a set down to beat Sabine Lisicki 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 in two hours and 29 minutes.

Teammate Svetlana Kuznetsova became Russia’s most successful player in Fed Cup history in the first match as she notched up her 27th career win in the annual competition, overcoming Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-4.

Russia, who were playing without the injured world No.2 Maria Sharapova, can reach the Fed Cup final by winning one of Sunday’s scheduled three matches.

Pavlyuchenkova’s win came after Lisicki took a tight first set and then had a match point in the second as the Russian suffered serious problems with her serve before taking the tiebreak to send the match into a third set.

The 23-year-old Russian played her best tennis in the third and raced into a 4-0 lead. She suffered a brief hiccup as she tried to close out the contest but claimed victory on her third match point, sending the near capacity stadium into raptures.

In Ostrava, Czech Republic, Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova gave holders the Czech Republic a 2-0 lead over France in the other semifinals after the opening rubbers on Saturday.

On the hardcourt of the CEZ Arena in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, world number 13 and Czech No.2 Safarova took an hour and 58 minutes to beat 29th-ranked Caroline Garcia 4-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.

World No.4 Kvitova then saw off 58th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 21 minutes to take the Czechs within a point of the finals.

The two lefties already led the Czechs to Fed Cup titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014 while France are playing their first semifinals since 2007 after winning their last Fed Cup trophy in 2003.

Safarova and Garcia held serve until the tenth game of the first set when an aggressive, well-serving Garcia broke her rival and closed out the set 6-4.

The second set went exactly the same way but the 21-year-old Garcia squandered five match points against Safarova’s serve and the game changed dramatically.