|
|
 |
Russia Wins Back Fed Cup Trophy
The women tennis squad of Russia won the third Fed Cup trophy in the latest four years. The obvious star of the final vs. defending champions, the team of Italy, was Svetlana Kuznetsova. Exactly Svetlana brought the third decisive score for the team to secure the 3-0 lead.
The Russians confirmed today’s superiority again on Sunday. But for the miss of past year, when the team yielded to the squad of Belgium in the first round, the trophy would have never left the country.
The recent final in Moscow was by far not the toughest battle for the girls. In the semifinal, they withstood pressure of the U.S. team led by Venus Williams. With all due respect to the Italians that climbed to the final for the second time running without a single player of top 20, their victory would have been a wonder.
But no miracle happened in Moscow Luzhniki past weekend. Although with problems, Anna Chakvetadze finally prevailed over Francesca Schiavone (6-4 4-6 6-4), while world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova predictably crashed Mara Santangelo (6-1 6-2).
But the Italians were in no surrendering mood. Schiavone was tough and combative Sunday and took the first set. She was leading 5-4 in the second one and was serving for the set. But powerful and unpredictable Kuznetsova played her tennis again to save two match points in the second set tie-break and win 4-6 7-6 7-5.
With 3-0 lead for Russia, the remaining double and a single were of no crucial importance.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 17, 2007
|
|
|
