Russia crush US in Fed Cup

2008-04-27 16:02

Moscow - Vera Zvonareva beat Vania King 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the first reverse singles on Sunday to give Russia an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the United States in their Fed Cup semi-final and send the holders into the final.

Russia will appear in their fourth final in the last five years in September when they take on Spain, who beat China 4-1 in Beijing.

Russia, who have won the trophy three times in the last four years, were expected to dominate a US team devoid of big-name players after former world number ones Venus and Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport decided against making the trip to Moscow.

The hosts, who enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 lead after the first day, were looking for Zvonareva, a late addition to Russia's line-up, to wrap up the tie against the 115th-ranked King.

But Zvonareva, who replaced world number four Svetlana Kuznetsova for the match, had to work harder than expected to overcome the combative American.

King stunned the world number 14 by winning the opening set after breaking her in the ninth game.

It was the first set won by the US team in the two-day tie on the red clay of Moscow's Luzhniki arena.

The Russian broke in the sixth game of the second set to level the match.

Nervous start

After regaining her confidence, Zvonareva broke the American to love in the third game of the final set, then repeated the trick four games later and went on to win the match after one hour 52 minutes.

"It was my first match on red clay in almost two years," Zvonareva, who has battled various injuries in the past year but reached the final of last week's Family Circle Cup on green clay in Charleston, told reporters.

"That's why I was a little nervous at the start of the match but I was able to overcome the early nerves and score the winning point for our team," she said.

"I wasn't surprised to get a chance to play today because we were told that if the score was 2-0 after day one, then both of us (substitutes), me and Elena Vesnina, would see some action."

Despite two defeats, King, who also lost to world number seven Anna Chakvetadze in the opening singles on Saturday, was satisfied with her performance in Moscow.

"I felt like I could have won both matches," she said.

"Just like yesterday's match, today there were a couple of points here and there that could have changed the match around. Still, I'm happy with my play and look forward to continuing to improve my game."

- Reuters