US Fed Cup team advances to semifinals

The United States Fed Cup team, led by Lindsay Davenport and Ashley Harkleroad, advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 win over Germany. The match, which was delayed over the weekend because of rain, finished on Monday. Davenport kicked off the action with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Julia Goerges and then Harkleroad picked up where she left off in beating Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 7-5. With Harkeload’s win, the US clinched a spot in the semis. Davenport then teamed with Lisa Raymond to defeat Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-0 in the doubles.

The US will now take on Fed Cup power and defending champion Russia in the semifinals. The US is 4-2 against Russia all-time, but they have lost to them the last two times they have faced. The US will definitely need to field its best team to compete against a Russian team they could contain Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze, and so on. A team of the Williams’ sisters and Lindsay Davenport would be a formidable opponent though! The match will take place the weekend of April 26th and 27th in Russia.

US Davis Cup team set to play

The defending champion United States Davis Cup team will take on Austria in the first round this weekend. The US team will feature the same foursome that won the title last year: Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Mike and Bob Bryan. The Austrian team is led by Stefan Koubek, Julian Knowle, Werner Eschauer, and Jurgen Melzer.

The match will take place in Vienna, Austria on red clay (the United State’s worst surface). The last time they played, in 2004, the US won 5-0 in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Szavay advances in Paris

Seventh-seeded Agnes Szavay won her opening round match against Olga Govortsova at the Open Gaz de France in Paris. The young Hungarian is looking for a good showing after she crashed out of the Australian Open in the first round. She will take on Tathiana Garbin of Italy in the second round.

Also winning their first round matches were Eleni Daniilidou and Katarina Srebotnik. The top four seeds – Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova, Marion Bartoli, and Elena Dementieva – all received byes into the second round. The defending champion is fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova, and she will take on Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round.