EASYROME

It is the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup for men. Each team has to go through a series of matches according to their nation's world groupings and zones that they belong to. Teams who lost are automatically out of the competition. The knock out matches continue until two teams are left to dispute the Cup.

Russia, with its teem of rising tennis stars that the country has been churning out into future top ten players and current world class players have advanced into the next round and into winning their third straight title. The Russians did not give their opponents a chance to win a match as they defeated China 5-0 and win their first round series.

World number seven Svetlana Kuznetsova started the ball rolling when she went out to be the first Russian on court for the singles match. She disposed of Zi Yan in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. World number four Elena Dementieva then took the second match when she trashed Shuai Zhang, 6-3, 6-0. The Russian skipper Shamil Tarpshchev then rested Dementieva with Anna Chakvetadze replacing her to battle Zi Yan in the revrse singles match. She pulled through with a win, 6-2, 6-1 and securing the tie for Russia. Recent Australian Open quarterfinalist Alisa Kleybanova made her debut in team competitions and prevailed against China's Tian Tian Sun, 6-1, 6-1 while the veteran pair of Dementieva and Kuznetsova completed the white wash when they ruled the doubles match against Tian Tian Sun and Zi Yan 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. It was the first time in the tie that the Chinese team actually won a set from the Russians.

The Chinese team played the tie minus their top players who are all ranked in the top 36. Jie Zhang, Na Li and Shuai Peng were all unavailable. Captain Qi Zhang's side only had three players in her team with Zi Yan as the highest ranked at 119. Shuai Zhang and and Tian Tian Sun are at 273 and 275 respectively.

The Russians will next face Italy in the second round. The Italians beat France also with a 5-0 score. The tie though proved to be highly contested as the first two winning tennis results could have gone to the Frenchwomen if luck was on their side. Amelie Mauresmo had a match point against Flavia Pennetta but was unable to convert it to victory, giving the Italian a new lease on life and a 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 win for the Italians' first point. Alize Cornet then had to avenge Mauresmo's loss as she went up against Francesca Schiavone in the second match but also was defeated in three sets with scores 1-6, 6-2, 6-8. In the reverse singles, Cornet wasn't able to produce the form that saw her advance to the quarterfinals in the Australia Open and was defeated by Pennetta, 2-6, 2-6. Sara Errani then overcame Mauresmo with a 6-3, 6-4 win. The Italians' doubles pair of Errani and Roberta Vinci then beat their French counterparts in Severine Bremond and Nathalie Dechy and completed the thrashing with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

It was a sad loss for the French side, who were hoping that with their new captain Nicolas Escude, their fortunes will change considering that the tie was being played at the French team's home court. Italian captain Corrado Barazzutti showed that his side was better though.

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Article Source: Tennis Live Results - Russia Advances In Fed Cup, Faces Italy Next