The Accidental Russophile

Ouch. Despite not having their best players available due to injuries, team Russia beat the U.S. in Stowe, Vermont this weekend, removing the U.S. from the Fed Cup semi-finals.

The Russian doubles team of Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina topped Venus Williams and Lisa Raymond, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) to oust the United States in the Fed Cup semifinals.

Russia moved into the finals to host defending champion Italy in September. Italy roared back on its home court to edge France, 3-2, on Sunday.

Williams first beat Anna Chakvetadze, 6-1, 6-4 to give the Americans a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five tie at Stowe’s Stadium at Topnotch. Chakvetadze was her own worst enemy with 12 double faults, but then Petrova came back to beat Meilen Tu, 6-1, 6-2.

Williams, the 2007 Wimbledon champion, had to wait out a rain delay before playing her singles match, but then pounded Chakvetadze. Tu, though, couldn’t hold up her end and the Americans faced an uphill battle in the doubles and continued their title drought.

The Americans had a service break in the second set, but Williams dropped her serve and then again in the tiebreak.

“They really got some lucky shots.” Williams said of the tiebreaker. “I mean, off my serve, I played well off my serve. Normally I’m never going to lose two points in the tiebreaker on my serve. Just lucky. That hurt us some.”

Would you like a little cheese with that whine?

From Lenta.ru “Visa in Finals” … the title is a small jab at the US for initially refusing a Visa for the Russian teams coach.