Ostrava, Czech Republic, 10 February 2013 | AAP

Jarmila Gajdosova saw no signs that Petra Kvitova is struggling for form during her straight sets loss to the Czech world No.8.

The left-handed 2011 Wimbledon champion overcame the Australian 7-6(2) 6-3 in Saturday’s opening match of a Fed Cup tie between the two nations.

“I don’t think she looked like she was struggling, she played pretty well,” Gajdosova said of her opponent, when asked of the form slump that had plagued the Czech in the new year.

Kvitova was an early departure from the Australian Open and also came up short in Paris in early February.

World No.168 Gajdosova took the first break and said she was pleased with her effort during her first meeting with Kvitova.

“I thought I started pretty well, I made my own chances in the match, even though they got broken back,” she said.

“Unfortunately I came up a little bit short and maybe didn’t play the big points as well as I would have liked to.”

Kvitova admitted nerves played a part in her opening set, but she settled into a rhythm after winning the tie-break.

“I was quite nervous during the first set and slow on my legs, so it was very important to win the first set,” she said.

“I knew a little bit about her game and her strokes and the serve is one of the fastest I think and was very tough to return.”

Kvitova meets Australian world No.9 Sam Stosur on Sunday for the reverse singles of the best-of-five match tie, when Gajdosova will also come up against Czech Lucie Safarova.

Fed Cup debutante Ashleigh Barty joins Casey Dellacqua for doubles on Sunday against Czech world No.3 pair Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova.