Tennis-Holders Czech Republic beat France to reach Fed Cup final

(Updates with doubles result) PARIS, April 19 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic reached their fourth Fed Cup final in five years when Petra Kvitova beat Caroline Garcia 6-4 6-4 to help the holders beat France 3-1 on Sunday. They will face Russia, who beat Germany 3-2 in the other semi-final, in the Nov 14-15 final. Lucie Safarova earned the first Czech point by beating Garcia 4-6 7-6(1) 6-1 on Saturday after saving five match points in front of a boisterous crowd at Ostrava's CEZ arena. Kvitova swept aside Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 6-4 to make it 2-0. World number four Kvitova was barely troubled on Sunday by Garcia, who threatened a second-set comeback when she bagged three games in a row after falling 5-1 down. But Kvitova was just too good and wrapped up victory with a forehand winner to give her team an unassailable lead. Mladenovic and Pauline Parmentier then beat Safarova and Barbora Strycova 0-6 6-3 10-8 in a doubles with nothing at stake. "Kvitova was well above our players," France captain Amelie Mauresmo said. "Let's face it, their four players were stronger than our number one on paper." (Writing by Julien Pretot, editing by Ed Osmond and Pritha Sarkar)