Russia, Italy, France and the US reached the semifinals of the Fed Cup on Sunday, with Russia beating Spain 5-0 to guarantee a spot in the last four, while defending champion Italy did the same to China and France shut out Japan.
The US advanced against Belgium when Vania King, playing for a sidelined Serena Williams, beat Kirsten Flipkens 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 to give the US players an insurmountable 3-0 lead in Delray Beach, Florida.
After King won, Venus Williams beat Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 6-2. The US players will take on Russia in the semifinals July 14-15 at a US site to be determined.
PHOTO: AFP
Williams pulled out a few hours before she was to face Flipkens, citing slight inflammation in the right knee. A team spokesman said the move was precautionary and unrelated to a groin muscle Williams injured April 10 when she retired from a match in Charleston, South Carolina.
King and Lisa Raymond were playing Yanina Wickmayer and Tamaryn Hendler in doubles later on Sunday.
Fifth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 on clay in Moscow at the Luzhniki indoor arena to give Russia its win over Spain.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, easily won the first set but struggled in the second.
"I completely lost the second set," Kuznetsova said. "I do not know what has happened to me. I could not go in for the ball at all."
Anna Chakvetadze, who filled in for Nadia Petrova, beat Nuria Llagostera Vives 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the second reverse singles match.
Petrova and Elena Vesnina defeated Laura Pous-Tio and Lourdes Dominguez-Lino 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the doubles.
Kuznetsova and the Petrova are the two highest-ranked players competing this weekend in World Group I. Both won their opening matches on Saturday.
Russia, which won titles in 2004 and 2005, will face either the US or Belgium in the semifinals on July 14-15.
Italy got its deciding point when Tathiana Garbin beat Zhang Shuai 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 at home on clay in Castellaneta Marina.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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