Sunday, February 6, 2011

Russia to play Italy in Fed Cup semifinals

France won the first two rubbers against Russia in World Group Fed Cup action this weekend, but the Russians prevailed by winning the next three. Today, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Alize Cornet, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Virginie Razzano, and Pavlyuchenkova and Kuznetsova defeated Cornet and Julie Coin in doubles. The first doubles set was close, and went to a tiebreak, but the French team didn't even make a point until they were down 0-3 in the second set, which was a 6-0 beat-down. Russia will now play defending champion Italy in the semifinals.

In the other semifinal match, the Czech Republic will play Belgium. The Czech team defeated the Slovak Republic 3-2, and Belgium defeated the USA 4-0.

Russia, ranked third in the world, won the Fed Cup title in 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008. Italy won the title last year, and in 2006 and 2009.

Here are the results for World Group II:

Spain def. Estonia, 4-1
Germany def. Slovenia, 4-1
Serbia def. Canada, 3-2
Ukraine def. Sweden, 3-2

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