The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Russia, China, Spain advance

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Russia, China, Spain advance

USA and Germany tied at one match a piece after first day’s play

— PHOTO: AFP

CLINCHING IT: Anabel Medina Garrigues sealed the away tie for Spain with a win over Francesca Schiavone.

LONDON: Maria Sharapova won her second straight Fed Cup match on Sunday to help defending champion Russia reach the semifinals of the competition along with China and Spain. Sharapova, who was making her Fed Cup debut this weekend, easily beat Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1 to give the Russians a 2-1 lead over host Israel.

Anna Chakvetadze then defeated Tzipi Obziler 6-4, 6-2 to make it 3-1.

“It’s a great win, although again it is strange to win a match without actually feeling like you won,” said Sharapova, who was still trying to get used to the best-of-five format.

China edged France 3-2 despite losing both reverse singles matches to reach the World Group semifinals for the first time, and Spain took an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Italy.

Spain shocked last season’s finalist Italy on Sunday when Anabel Medina Garrigues stunned Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-1 in Napoli to complete a 3-0 clean sweep for the visitors.

Garrigues followed up her fine straight sets victory over Flavia Pennetta on Saturday by adding Schiavone to her list of victims. Schiavone had also lost her first singles match on Saturday in three sets against Nuria Llagostera Vives, ranked more than 100 places lower than the Italian in the WTA rankings. It was a sorry fall from grace for the Italians, and on home territory, as the same team beat Justine Henin’s Belgium to the title in 2006 before coming up just short against Russia in last year’s final.

Later Sunday, the United States was to finish its series against Germany. The teams were even at 1-1 after Saturday’s singles.

Sharapova, who won the Australian Open last week for her third Grand Slam title, won nine games in a row from 1-1 in the first set. The Russian then won on her fifth match point. Chakvetadze came back from 3-0 down in the first set and shut out the chanting from a hostile home crowd who sensed they might be able to unsettle Chakvetadze if Obziler could stay with her. Chakvetadze was too good for her opponent who was never able to threaten her on the important points.

Earlier on Sunday, Sharapova crushed Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1 to give the Russians a 2-1 lead in the tie much to the disappointment of the 5,000 boisterous home fans. The Israeli No. 1 had no answer to the Australian Open champion’s powerful groundstrokes and Sharapova broke Peer six times to win in an hour and 14 minutes.

On Saturday, Sharapova beat Obziler to level the tie after Peer had beaten Dinara Safina.

China beats France

China beat France 3-2 in their tie, a nail-biter in Beijing on Sunday, to moving into the semifinals of the tournament for the first time. The result will boost home hopes for the Summer Olympics here, but China definitely did it the hard way against an under-strength French team.

The results: World Group: In Ramat Hasharon: Israel lost to Russia 4-1 [Shahar Peer lost to Maria Sharapova 1-6, 1-6; Tzipi Obziler lost to Anna Chakvetadze 4-6, 2-6; Peer & Obziler lost to Elena Vesnina & Dinara Safina 0-6, 6-1, 4-6].

In Beijing: China bt France 3-2 [Na Li lost to Virginie Razzano 6-4, 2-6, 4-6; Zi Yan lost to Natalie Dechy 3-6, 2-6; Yan & Zheng bt Dechy & Razzano 7-5,7-6(5)].

In Naples: Italy lost to Spain 3-0 [Francesca Schiavone lost to Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-7(4), 6-3, 2-6; Flavia Pennetta lost to Annabel Medina Garrigues 2-6, 3-6; Francesca Schiavone lost to Annabel Medina Garrigues 4-6, 1-6]

In La Jolla: USA 1 Germany 1 [Lindsay Davenport lost to Sabine Lisicki 1-6, 5-7; Ashley Harkleroad bt Tatjana Malek 6-1, 6-3].

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